Forever: An Eternity
by Vixen1
Summary: Humanity is being plagued by a mysterious force after finally acheiving peace... As Hiiro goes to fight yet again, a new kind of soldier arises as an ally. Is it too little to late to save humanity? -CHAPTER 21 NEW!-
1. Not a Ghost

Forever: An Eternity

~~~Hello everyone, my name is Vixen, and I'm a writer here in ff.net. It's been about four months since I stopped writing, and now I've decided that I miss it too much. This is the first thing I've written in a while, so please be gentle. Also, please be mindful of the rating of this fic, it's IMPORTANT to me. Moon/Yui. Please enjoy! –Vixen~~~

~**RATED**: **R- **For violence, disturbing scenes, lime, language, and adult themes

~DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT BELIEVE IN DISCLAIMERS

Chapter One: Not a Ghost

*Deftly and quickly his bare feet waded through the dark bog that covered the ground. Sickly green mists covered the dead, brown grass as the cracking and breaking ground rose and fell with the rolling hills of the landscape. The night was dark; no stars graced the quiet and empty skies. The heavy fog that had settled upon the Earth was thick with humidity and the stench of death. The only specks of color his eyes could make out within the bleakness of the world were the slowly fading and wilting flowers that were sporadically placed at the tombstones of the long since dead.

This graveyard was a haven for those who wished to escape life, wished to escape the ravages of war and unrest of a world without peace. They had come here to rest far away from the massacres that the humans of Earth did not understand was tearing the planet apart. Yet war torn families that had once been ripped apart by these deaths were now beginning to rebuild in a world that had finally settled on a peace. A rocky, easily shakable peace that threatened to crumble at the slightest touch. 

Was war necessary? Or was that a question that no man or woman was fit to answer? His comrades had believed the war had been part of a grandiose scheme of some higher cosmic power. They believed that this war had been one that, though all wars are unwelcome, was necessary to be fought. In his own opinion, the war had not been part of any design. There was no such cosmic power; there was no God. God was a figment of imagination that humans had created to believe in something when times became too rough for them to continue to hope for a better future. Having an entity such as God allowed them to place the blame somewhere other than in their own flaws, it allowed them to place their fears, dreams, prayers, hopes, and wishes in the hands of someone whom they believed would take care of what they could not. 

His quickened pace slowed, and soon he came to a silent halt. His feet itched with the brown grass cutting into their bottoms and rubbing against his ankles, and this chest barely rose and fell as small breaths now came quickly. He was not out of breath form his jog, yet his heart pumped at a rate that demanded more oxygen. The night sky and the chilled air settled as a veil around him, not quite reaching his sallow white skin. A deep rumble echoed in the distance as the blackened clouds above him screamed in their anger and pain. 

He was not quite as disillusioned. This God theory, while tempting, was not something he would fall for. He would not place the blame for humanity's actions within the hands of a non-existent and vague being. Everything he had done, the fighting, destroying, killing… everything was upon his shoulders. And everything was his fault. This choices he had made and the actions he had taken within life he understood, some of the fault lay within the way he had been trained and raised, but the truth behind the matter was that ultimately it was his choice and his choice alone to take the courses of actions he had. His life was his creation, his guilt was of his own making, and his demons were of his own fears and self-hatred personified. And of this, he took full knowledge and accepted it. 

This world, this world of newly won peace, it did not suit him. He did not belong here. He strongly believed that while there was no God or grand design for the war to have meant something to future generations when they died and went to some 'heaven', that there was a reason for the war. Humanity, on their own, needed a way to reaffirm what made them better than animals. It was not enough to know that they were able to think, the adapt and dream of complex and intricate ideals such as a God, but they needed to feel the emotion physically. Fighting helped to curb the primal instinct of needing to know they were at the top of the food chain, and achieving peace was just the natural end to the means of war. It was a vicious cycle, but it was humanity's only way of living.

Once again, he glanced to the vacant sky. A loud clap of thunder and the sizzling smell of burning electricity baking the heavy-set fog. Splitting thunderbolts lit the sky with a blinding crack, and the zigzagging lines reminded him of battles and the blaring lights of the stars as he used to fly past them in blinding speeds, stretching the light out so they looked as if they were beams instead of specs millions of parsecs away from their portion of the Milky Way. He knew then, just as he had known as he had fired his final shot at a twelve year old girl-child, that once the fighting and wars of this world and time had ended, that he had nothing more to live for here. 

In this world that had finally reaffirmed their humanity, that had finally rediscovered why peace was important to their race, he was not needed. He was a mere relic of the past, a relic who no one needed to remind them of a time of pain, discomfort, and fear. He was a nightmare and a demon, the opposite of their dreams and hopes for the future. There was nothing left for him here in this world, nothing left for him to accomplish. For so long he had been not a human, but a tool. The tool humans had used to fix their problems. In a way, he had played their God, solving their problems and taking the blame for their mistakes. But now they felt as though they had made no mistakes, save creating a monster such as himself. He was useless here, useless in a world that did not want to remember their one mistake: him. It was time to move on.

From his waist he drew the cold metal single barrel. The small handheld was light and black, the perfect object for the tool to use for his dirtiest work. As the clouds opened above him, pouring not rain, but a bitter hailstorm down upon his solitary form, he took aim. Within seconds everything that humanity hated would be gone. His finger twitched, and without remorse, conscience, or happiness, the muscle in his finger grew taught and clamped down on the small trigger. 

The impact wound was small, a small, rounded hole straight through his right temple. The exit wound, however, went somewhat out the back of his head, and was much larger. The bullet lodged itself in a tree some yards away from where his prone body crumpled and landed on the dead grass, and his hand fell limp allowing the gun to escape his grasp. He had finally joined those whom he had envied for so long, those who rested in peace buried six feet below soil that was still untouched by the blood of war and untainted with the hate of greed, deceit, and jealousy. 

Blinking suddenly, Hiiro's hand twitched. He grasped the cold metal that lay beside it, and felt the familiar rivulets that decorated his gun. Drawing in a deep breath, he could smell the sweetness of the dried and dead grass, and the dampness that the hail had brought upon the lifeless landscape. Pushing himself up took little effort, and Hiiro sat motionless on the ground for an instant. Then he reached up and felt the side of his head, where he could still feel the cold, crawling touch of where the gun had rested upon his warm skin. 

He had missed? Quickly, as if to verify that he had indeed missed, he ran his hands through his hair and down over his face, brushing away disbelief. He must have. A small smirk haunted his dry, thin lips. He had never, not once in seven years, purposely missed a target. And now he missed a completely stationary, point blank range shot? Above him a break in the clouds and hail allowed a full moon to shine down upon him as he rose to his feet. Well, maybe tonight was not the night. Tomorrow night. He would try again tomorrow night. His bare feet once again began scraping at the dead grass and dry, cracked ground as he began to take a few steps in the direction of the cemetery gates.

"Hello?" A quiet, soft voice called out. "Hello? Is someone there?" He could hear fear, and smell the soft fragrance of vanilla. Turning to his right, he stared directly into the trees. Through the bushes came a soft rattling, and soon a petite figure stepped into the small courtyard of tombstones he stood in the center of.

"I did hear someone!" The stranger cried in relief. "I thought I was chasing a ghost for a moment; you scared me!" 

"I am not a ghost."

"I can see that, but why are in the graveyard so late at night?" He could tell that in the dark and wet air she was shaking cold, and her thin silk pajamas were not helping to keep her warm. 

"Why are you?"

"I asked you first."

"Why does that have anything to do with your answer?" He countered frowning slightly. He would not be out done by a simple child. At least, that was what her form betrayed to him through the dark and light rain that was now falling.

"I guess it doesn't really." She muttered. "I thought I heard a gunshot and came to see if someone was hurt. Was that you?"

"Target practice." He nodded. 

"You didn't… _hurt_ anyone, did you?" She queried, fear wavering in her soft voice.

"No." 

"Oh, well that's a relief!" She smiled, and suddenly he felt as though he should not be holding a gun. In fact, he felt as though this child should never be in the presence of any weapon of any sort, that she was too innocent and young to be exposed to such dangers of the world.

"Go home." He warned her.

"Why don't I walk you home first?" She asked shyly. "You must not live too far away?" He frowned.

"Far enough." He hesitated, then stopped. "I'll walk you." She smiled brightly and yawned. 

"Alright, I only live down the street and around the corner, not too far. My name is Serena. And you are?"

"A friend." He nodded as he approached her and could now make out her form. She looked as though she were a young girl, with long blonde hair wrapped into two strange buns atop her head. Her bangs framed her heart-shaped face angelically, and her blue eyes looked at him expectedly. He could not hold her gaze for long; he dared not to look into those eyes. She looked at him questioningly, and he felt as though she was searching his soul with her big, blue eyes. 

"Well, friend, let's get out of the storm." *

~~~ I AM SO MAD with ff.net right now!!! Seriously, if they kick one more of my fics off, I'm pulling them **all** off and they will only be found on my website. Let me explain. Once again, one of my fics has been kicked off of ff.net. It was actually this exact fic, but I've changed it since they pulled it off. I don't know if they have a grudge against me or what, but it was once **again** kicked off for explicit content. 

Okay, so Hiiro shot himself in this fic. It was rated accordingly, and still people refused to leave me alone. What will it take? I'm an author expressing myself, not trying to hurt other people, and it hurts ME to see my work thrown to the side like this. Who is reporting me? Do you think it's funny? I cried my eyes out when I found out that ff.net had done this to me AGAIN. This is not funny; it's not a joke. This is my work, my art, my life, and you're ruining it for me.

I was trying to make an honest comeback from being away, and two days after I post my newest fic, it's kicked off? I cannot explain how upset I am. Now, my ban from uploading on ff.net is up, and my fic is back up. If anyone reports me again, I'm pulling **everything** from this site. This is not a joke, and I shouldn't have to deal with this. It's called freedom of speech folks. You don't like it? Look at the rating and don't read it. 

I really hate offending people, especially those who have been loyal. The last time something of mine got kicked off tons of people emailed and reviewed in favor of me, and some even offered to start petitions to ff.net to have them review my situation. Well, I've written so many letters to ff.net that it's made me dizzy looking at them, but none have ever been answered or even taken seriously, I'm sure. So I've given up trying to fight the system. All I can do is go on as I have been, and take action if it happens again. Thank you for listening to my rant, and for being so understanding. Much love –Vixen~~~


	2. Confused

Chapter Two: Confused.

He shuddered in the chilly air and glanced sideways at the sprite that cheerfully walked beside him. Every step he took, he felt himself growing farther and farther from the cemetery, from death and self-destruction. Why had he missed? Something he did not quite understand—he had held the gun directly to his head, he had felt the cool metal before he had urged his finger to pull the trigger. How was it possible to have gotten away from that situation without a scrape?

"Why were you practicing with your gun tonight? It's dark out, and rainy too." Her voice piqued a question. He shot her a glare that could have easily deterred many an old comrade from questioning his power. He was the authoritarian figure in this situation; she had no right to challenge him. "Hello? Hey, I asked why you were practicing tonight?" She asked for a second time in a row. His eyes widened slightly, and his jaw felt somewhat heavier than usual. Had she even seen his murderous look?

"One needs to be prepared to fight in all forms of situations; including the dark and rain." He answered her simply. Serena paused for a moment in her walking and looked at him questioningly.

"But who are you going to fight?" She pressed. "There are other ways to settle scores than with gun fights and wars. Why not put your gun down and explore your other options?" He looked at her incredulously.

"My enemies will constantly seek me out, regardless if I decide to explore my 'other options' or not. I would rather be prepared." He finally managed to explain.

"What enemies?"

"Don't you know anything?" He glared. This time he knew she had seen his cold eyes, for she shrank back in what appeared to be fear. Instantly he regretted upsetting her. She was, after all, only a little girl. Only an innocent little girl… she should not have ever had to come into contact with him. As he silently berated himself, he failed to notice her posture had once again switched from small and demure, to stronger and more confident.

"I know a lot more than most people, than you, give me credit for, actually." She spoke softly, her words both shocking him and raising questions within his mind. What? She what?

"Then know that I have enemies who seek me out, and I must be prepared at all times for them." He concluded. Serena shrugged.

"All right. I'll remember that. Well, this is home. Will you be able to get home all right? Are you sure you don't want company?" She quickly changed the subject. Hiiro glanced up, and was immediately stunned to a degree of silence that not even he usually reached.

Towering above him in the dark of the cold and rainy night was a large, old building. The bricks that were the building blocks for the once magnificent structure had faded to a gray and brown color that radiated a foreboding atmosphere. Right before him stood two impressively large wooden doors, the finish on them so dark that he could barely tell them apart from the rest of the building. Still, it was hard to miss the break in the stone where the arching around the doors was covered in the most intricately detailed carvings he had seen since before the wars. The arching, separated into sections, was covered in figures of little demons dragging men into hell, and nearer to the top, angels carrying men into the heavens. In an etching right above the door itself, the words: "Dies Iirae, Deus mistereatur". He found himself wondering what the words of the dead language meant. Then, looking again at the carvings, he decided he would rather not know. There were no windows that his eye could pick out amongst the dark nooks and crannies of the massive edifice, leaving the impression that once one entered the fortress of stone and faith, they would be forever trapped within the cage of the cult.

"You look so surprised," the young girl stared at Hiiro with a knowing smile, "It's only a church after all, don't look so glum!"

"You live inside?" He asked curtly, trying to avoid any eye contact that would draw him into question more about this new person he had just met.

"I do! I've lived in this church for almost as long as I can remember, since I was a young child." Hiiro simply nodded, as if to say he understood completely what she meant. "Hey, are you absolutely positive you don't want me to walk you home? You look cold, wet, and shaken up… I'm only worried about you, that's all."

"Don't waste your time worrying about me. I'll be fine." He curtly nodded, then turned and began to stroll away without a second thought. She was safe at her church, her home. Besides, she shouldn't be out in the rain— she would get sick. Then he did stop. Turning around, his eyes focused on her small form climbing the cobbled stairs to the large doors. She turned around and briefly looked at him, curiosity and patience hidden within her large, warm blue eyes. A small smirk grace his thin lips. Figured. She truly was the picture of innocence. "Serena." His voice carried just enough to catch her attention. "Make sure you take a warm shower; you don't want to catch sick." His keen eyes picked up her light smile. It made him feel… warm. It made him… feel.

"I will, I promise! Please do the same when you get home, I would hate to have my new friend sick!" She called back quietly. He nodded at her in acknowledgement and began to walk again, only to stop for a final time.

"Hiiro Yui." He called out without turning around. But he could feel her glowing eyes searing into his back. And then, a soft laugh floated through the air, deftly touching his soul, stirring the dead core that he had numbed for so long.

"Night Hiiro, dei gratia, dum vivimus vivamus!" He heard the large doors swing open, and then close with a finality that settled upon him like a ton of bricks. What had she just said?

Finally free from her enchanting spell, Hiiro turned his full attention to where he was. This didn't look like a familiar part of town. Then again, he had walked her the opposite way from which he had come. This town… it was so small, so quaint. And that girl had been so innocent that she had actually believed no one around her had so much as a handgun. Hiiro smirked, then frowned. Her own father probably owned a gun, and she had no idea. Well, she did live in a church… Absentmindedly Hiiro fingered his gun, and contemplated life.

How had he managed to get off? What trick had death played on him? It wasn't as if he believed in a heaven or hell; you had to believe in some form of God or religion for that. He believed that when death occurred, the soul simply ceased to exist, along with all the worldly pain that the person had carried with them. So why wasn't he allowed to shrugged off his pain and end everything?

A car driving by at a rapid pace splashed him with icy rainwater, and he shivered in the chilly air. Now he was completely drenched. Hiiro grimaced at the wonderful feeling of heavy, wet clothes that rubbed his skin raw as he walked and continued on. Finally landmarks were looking familiar. Soon he would come upon where he had parked his motorcycle, and then he would be on his way. From his pocket a shrill ring sounded. Fumbling in the dark and rain, he found the small electronic object and flipped it open.

"Yui."

"Hey Hiiro old buddy, it's me, Duo! I was just calling to make sure you were still alive; I haven't talked to you in a while."

"Three hours." Hiiro replied curtly.

"Well…" Duo's voice trailed off. "Let me put it this way, I know you, and I know the way you think. For better or worse, I know the way your mind works, and I know that on a night like this you tend to get all weepy and depressed, and that's when those suicide thoughts start to look pretty good. So I just thought I'd call and knock some sense into you!"

Hiiro rolled his eyes, as if he could see his comrade. Since meeting Duo Maxwell, his life had never been boring—or quiet, that was for sure. Duo seemed to have a knack for picking up on his moods, and Hiiro very much disapproved of the fact that anyone could read him. Still, Duo had, on occasion, come through for him in tight situations, and he never knew when the braided boy might come in handy again, so he kept him around in case. "I'll be back in twenty." And with that, Hiiro hung up. Hopefully that would suffice.

Hiiro glanced back as he passed the corner that the cemetery sat on, and frowned. His bike sat in front of him, and he knew it was time to leave this peaceful town. They didn't need him ruining things. That girl, that innocent girl didn't need him ruining her.

What had her last words to him meant? It sounded as though it were a language long since lost upon human ear. So too, did it seem, that her religion fell upon a deaf ear in these days. Certainly he was not the only atheist in the world. He knew that even Miss Relena Peacecraft, former Queen of the World and Vice Foreign Minister was skeptical about the existence of such a being. It almost made him laugh, as a matter of fact, to think that the kind girl he had met was a religious psycho.

Pulling the key from his pocket, he straddled his bike and jump-started the engine by turning the serrated-edged piece of metal. Revving his engine, he soon took off to get back home—before Duo decided to call out the Preventers units to hunt him down and haul him in like yesterday's cargo.

When Hiiro finally pulled up to Quatre's Winner's mansion and parked his bike up on the porch near the door, he was instantly greeted by a flooding of light as the door was flung open and two little figures laughed at him. They giggled and giggled, and finally launched themselves at Hiiro without much dignity or thought.

"Hey Uncle Hiiro!" They cried simultaneously.

"Hello." He nodded to the children. The four year olds were not to be stopped by his cool manner, and Hiiro knew better than to try and pry them from his legs himself. He'd just have to let the mother and father of the kids do it for him. "Duo!" He called evenly, stepping into the house and shutting the door behind him.

Not two moments later did a braided man run into the room. Hiiro smirked. Duo had always been at his beck and call—the guy was still scared of him _sometimes_ at _some_ basic level, he knew. "You called sir?" Duo joked. Then his eyes fell upon his rugrats, attached to Hiiro's legs, and he sighed. "Come on you guys, off your Uncle, he's not in a good mood."

"Uncle Hiiro's never in a good mood!" The two whined as they let Duo pull them from Hiiro's soaked legs.

"Sorry girls, maybe tomorrow?" Duo suggested to them. "Go find your mom, she's ready to read you bedtime stories!" The two girls looked at each other, then instantly went flying down the hall.

"Shouldn't they already be asleep?" Hiiro motioned for Duo to follow him into the kitchen; careful he didn't drip too much on Quatre's fine carpets.

"They were, but Kalei had a nightmare, which woke Kory, and neither has gone back to bed since. I'm sure Hilde'll figure something out, it's why I love her!" Duo blabbered on and on.

"Dei gratia, dum vivimus vivamus. What do the words mean to you?" Hiiro narrowed his eyes at Duo as he filled a kettle with warm water and put it over the stove to heat it up for tea. Duo froze.

"It's Latin. Where did you hear a piece of that dead language? Only reason I know it is because that old priest who raised me, Father Maxwell, mentioned it in passing when I asked what a few old inscriptions meant."

"What do the words mean?"

"I'm not completely sure, but they could mean something along the lines of 'by the grace of God, live, let us live'. That's not accurate, but it's close. If you really need to know, and I can't imagine why you would because no one knows that language anymore, there's an old church that still teaches the language. It's near that old cemetery on the cliffs." Hiiro's eyes rose.

"Go on." He implored Duo.

"I haven't been there personally, but when I was growing up, it was actually a place where Father Maxwell had us write letters. We were pen pals with the orphans who lived there. The whole program was run by a woman by the name of Sara, I think. I could be wrong though, it's been quite a while."

"You and I are taking a trip tomorrow." Hiiro nodded as he grabbed his tea and walked out of the kitchen and towards the steps to the back staircase. He was wet and tired. He wanted to know what had happened tonight, and he wanted to know what she had said. And he didn't want to deal with more questions from the braided idiot who he knew was watching him like a hawk at the moment.

"Hiiro, I have the twins tomorrow. Hiiro? Hiiro! Hey, come on Hiiro! Hiiro!" Duo called, but his voice fell upon deaf ears. Hiiro blocked out the noise and climbed monotonously into his room, peeling off wet clothes as fast as he could with a cup of hot tea in one hand. Tomorrow. He hung his head and closed his eyes for a moment, stopping all movement. Sighing and breathing deeply, he forced himself to continue on into the bathroom, to take his shower and then to sleep like the dead. There was no use in wondering about tomorrow, because he made his own future happen, just as he would make tomorrow happen.

To be honest, this story is a little boring to begin with. But I promise, it does get better if you can stick out the first few chapters or so. Please review—the more you do, the sooner the next chapters get posted! Much love, Vixen


	3. Place of Refuge

Chapter Three: Place of Refuge

When the morning rays of the sun gently broke across Hiiro's eyes, he flickered them open with a stifled groan. Staying still for a moment, he let the small warmth that the sun filtered in through his window wash over him in a glorious and carefree moment. His breaths became deep for a moment, and every lungful of cool, clean air felt like a new life-giving force was filling his body with an unexplainable energy.

But as quickly as that force he was savoring had come over him, dark clouds filled the skies, crushing out any beams of sunlight that had woven their way through the darkness and to the soaked Earth. Hiiro frowned. Slowly, as if he were trapped in a bad dream that kept repeating over and over again, he slid his bare legs out from underneath his covers and sat on the edge of his bed. Sweat began to bead up on his forehead slightly when he paused his breathing and attempted to confront the nightmares he had had the night before. Taking the time to run his calloused hands through his gnarled and tangled coffee locks, Hiiro stood and made his way blindly to the shower.

Slowly he wakened himself with the warm water and clean smell of soap. The droplets of water cleansed him of the nightmares he had suffered from, and suddenly his soul felt a good deal lighter. The frown that habitually resided across his thinly draw lips melded into a soft comfortable smile, and his glaring eyes stopped radiating anger long enough for them to settle into a soft and tired glazed look. "Live, let us live", she had said to him. All right, then.

Hiiro walked past his comrades who were seated at the breakfast table, past his 'nieces', and past the food that smelled so delicious. He always opted to skip a morning meal, instead only drinking a cup of blackened coffee. The bitter taste tended to wake him completely, so he could fully face whatever the day brought to him as he made his fortune.

"Uncle Hiiro, our daddy says you want to go to church."

"But you never go to church!" Two little girls, his Godchildren as Duo and Hilde had seen fit to give him the title of Godfather, had followed him into the kitchen and were looking up at him with sweetly confused expressions. Hiiro felt he could not roll his eyes in their presence, a problem that had gotten him into trouble more than once with them. Hilde constantly berated him for spoiling them— only to turn around and accuse him of being a hypocrite and not caring for anyone else.

The two girls, spitting images of their father and mother, were perhaps the only people in the living world for which he had any soft spot. They both had their mother's hair color, deep violet, with streaks of brown running through it. Their long locks were pulled into two braids on either side of their head, reminiscent of their father's own long braid. The only way to tell the girls apart was by their eyes, Kalei having her mother's navy eyes and Kory having her father's violet orbs.

"We're going to a special church." He told them gently.

"That's right girls, a special church!" Duo mimicked as he walked in behind them. "So I want you two to be on your best behavior. Promise me?"

"Promise daddy!" The girls chorused cheerfully. Duo grinned at Hiiro over their heads.

"Then go get your coats, I think your Uncle Hiiro wants to leave soon." Hiiro watched Duo carefully as he interacted with his children. When the two girls ran out of the kitchen and towards the stairs for their coats, Hiiro nodded.

"You've become a different person because of those kids."

"What can a say?" The braided man laughed. "Children and wives… they change the way you see life. That's the only truth I've ever found to be completely true. You should try it sometime."

"We're leaving in two minutes. It's raining, I suggest you follow in a car."

"Shouldn't you be following me, you know, seeing as how you don't know where you're going?" Duo asked thoughtfully. Hiiro glared. "Right, I should have known you'd already know, you are, after all, the Perfect Soldier." He paused. "So then why do you need me? Hiiro? Hiiro!" But the lean form of the fighter was already gone. Duo shook his head. "Stubborn as hell, that guy!"

)(

By the time they had reached the church, the sky had become black, and thunder and lightening was threatening. Only a few fat drops of rain had actually fallen from the clouds, a sure sign that when the heavens did decide to rain, it would pour. The two girls jumped as fast as they could out of the car Duo had followed Hiiro in, and began to run towards the church quickly, giggling the whole way. Duo, more casually, stepped out from behind the wheel and locked the car up. He met Hiiro at the base of the steps to the church, and the two men made little effort of climbing the stairs to the large doors.

"Come one Daddy!"

"Come on Uncle Hiiro!"

"Hurry!" The two girls yelled together. The men shared a look, Duo grinning and Hiiro impassive, and then pulled one of the large doors open. The two girls ran inside ahead, and the men stood at the back of the church, surveying their surroundings.

There were no pews, no seats, as a normal church might have. The stone walls on either side of the building was decorated with little, only wooden carvings of the stations of the cross depicting the suffering of a man long since dead. At the front of the church was a large, circular stained glass window, the brilliant colors left darkened by the lack of sunlight. Candles in huge candelabras speckled the front, and on the small stone alter was a simple piece of purple and white cloth, nothing resting atop it. The one statue that decorated the grand cathedral was that of a battered man nailed to a cross, at his feet rested rows and rows of votive candles, all of them left dark and unlit. There were more windows, smaller, that lined the sides of the church, but a few of them were broken, shattered probably during the wars that had plagued Earth not too long ago.

A shadowy figure slowly emerged from a door that was off the side of the alter. Robed in nothing more than a simple brown shift with a hood, the man began to light the candles that had been blown out by the wind of the storm. Suddenly he seemed to notice that there were two little girls watching him from behind the small stone podium on the alter, and stopped his task.

"Kalei, Kory, come back here now." Duo finally gathered his voice. It was then that the hooded figure noticed the men at the back of the church. As the two little girls quietly ran back to their father and godfather, the robed man began to approach. The aisle was long, so Hiiro and Duo made and effort to meet the man in the middle.

"Welcome." The robed man quietly offered a hello. Hiiro glared, his fingers itched to feel the cool metal of his gun, for protection's sake. It would have made him more at ease in this strange setting.

"Hi there." Duo nodded. "I'm Duo Maxwell, and this is my friend Hiiro Yui." The man in the robe and hood nodded.

"Daddy!" Kory tugged on her father's shirt. Duo smiled.

"And these are my daughters, Kory and Kalei. We're sorry to just come in like this, but we were actually hoping to speak to someone who runs the church. Maybe you could help us?"

"This has not been a church for some time now." The robed man told them, his head bowed in a sign of respect. "It is a place of refuge. However, if you would like to ask me your questions, I would be glad to see if I can answer them."

"Not a church?" Hiiro clipped. Something was not right about this man. Something was off. He couldn't put his finger on it, but Hiiro felt as though he was being pulled towards the shy priest. It was a draw; such as they way he had been compelled to the graveyard the night before.

"No. Of course, it the building itself is a cathedral, and we keep it up as such. But we do not use it as a place for religious worship." Duo and Hiiro stared hard at the man, trying to comprehend his meaning.

"Brother Jed! Brother Jed!" A small voice rippled through the air, cutting the tense silence in half. A boy no taller than Duo's two girls ran into the church from the side door the priest had entered from, and was racing towards the man, full throttle. As the little boy reached the robed man, he bent down and caught the little boy by his waist, stopping him from going any farther. The priest's hood slipped back to reveal a thick, full head of wheat colored hair. His ice blue eyes held mirth and concern for the boy who had run into the room looking for him.

"What's wrong Michael?" He asked softly.

"They're at it again, Charles and Jacob! Serena asked me to come get you, you're the only one they'll listen to anymore, she said. Hurry!" The boy gave one last huff of air, and then finally seemed to relax. He had done his job and gotten to Jed as fast as he could, and now it was time for him to rest. But Jed had different plans.

"All right. Michael, where are they?"

"In the courtyard."

"Okay. Why don't you stay here and keep our visitors company while I go out and handle this." The little boy nodded, and Jed turned to Hiiro and Duo. "Please excuse me, I need to go take care of something. Michael will stay and keep you company." Duo and Hiiro nodded and watched as the robed man quickly rushed from the room and through the door he had come from.

"How old are you?" The little boy bravely asked the two girls, who were hiding behind Hiiro and Duo's legs. Kalei stepped up.

"We are four, but we'll be five in… soon." She finished, struggling to name when exactly they would pass their birthdays.

"I'm six!" The little boy said proudly. "Why are you here?"

"Uncle Hiiro wanted to come to church!" Kory answered. Duo turned to look at Hiiro, quite amused at the conversation they were witnessing. Hiiro, on the other hand, had already slipped away and begun walking towards the door through which people seemed to come and go within the church.

"Hey Hiiro? Where're you going?"

"Find out what's going on." Was the gruff response Duo received. By then the Perfect Soldier was already through the door and out of sight. Duo only sighed. How typical of Hiiro, to just leave. Well, all be damned if he was going to be left behind this time. Hiiro, whether he knew it or not, usually tended to make a bigger mess out of nothing. Not that it was always his fault…

"Hey guys, come on, let's go see where your Uncle Hiiro went." Duo suggested. The two girls looked up from their conversation with Michael. Looking around, they noticed their beloved Uncle had disappeared.

"Okay!" They laughed. Duo began walking, and all three kids followed him through the door. Looking around, he followed the faint smell of gunpowder and soap, Hiiro's distinctive scent, and found another door that opened into a large, square courtyard.

Around the courtyard was an arched walkway of the same brown and gray brick that made up the cathedral. Covering the individual arches were wild vines of overgrown roses, the blossoms now only half open in the dark of the gloomy day. Other doors were evident in the walls behind the arches, and the cobbled walkways gave Duo the memory of walking through an old-fashioned city or village on Earth. In the center of the courtyard, an old fountain was visible, the water only slightly trickling from the top. More rosebushes littered the grounds, white roses in bloom wildly stretching out over the expanse of the empty square.

Near the center of the courtyard and the fountain was where Duo's eyes were drawn, and he spied Hiiro just ahead of him watching the scene play out before them. Two boys, Duo guessed them to be roughly fifteen or sixteen, were wrestling on the ground. Standing frightened to their side was a larger group of children ranging in age from four to as old as the boys who were fighting. The man whom Hiiro and Duo had met in the church was now pulling one of the boys off the other, trying to break up the fight. Hiiro had no problem in jumping in and restraining the second boy, who had gone to lunge for the one who was already being stopped.

Duo heard his two daughters begin to pout and knelt down beside them. "It's okay girls, don't cry. Your Uncle Hiiro will stop them, watch, you'll see." He hushed them and pointed to Hiiro, who was effortlessly holding one of the boys back.

"Stop this right now! What," the man paused breathing slowly and controlled, "are you two thinking!" he finished with a shout.


	4. Can't Save Everyone

Chapter Four: Can't Save Everyone

The boys continued for a moment longer, but then the fight within them seemed to die. Their bodies grew limp, and they stopped putting up a struggle. Hiiro let go of his boy, and Jed let go of the other. Both of the boys stood should to shoulder and faced the robed man, whose anger was apparent only through his blazing eyes. The ice within them seemed to have been lit on fire, and the anger and determination that was flooding to the surface was only barely being contained.

"It's alright now Jed, I'll take it from here." A small form stepped out from the crowd of children off to the side, and Hiiro's breath caught. It was his strange girl from the night before. But she looked—not as he remembered.

Her long blonde hair, sparkling as if it had been kissed by the sun itself, wove itself around her shoulders all the way to her slim waist. Pale skin contrasted with her pink, full lips as they twisted into a sad frown, and her dark lashes sadly framed her shocking electric blue eyes. She wore simple blue jeans and a threadbare white zip-up sweater, the hood thrown back carelessly. She seemed older, and far worldlier than his first impression of her the night before.

"Charles, Jacob, why do you continue these fights?" The petite woman stepped up beside the robed man. "Brother Jed and I, we don't want you to be unhappy. Nil desperandum. Now, tell me, what are you two so upset over?"

"Nothing." Both boys said at once, then glared at each other. The woman before them seemed to glow with a light them convinced all she knew it was not "nothing".

"Charles. Jacob. Veritas vos libertas. Now then, what was this about?" Her set expression gave the boys now room for arguments this time.

"Serena," The larger of the two boys spoke up finally. "Jacob said that my parents were evil, that it was a good thing they're dead. He said that if he'd been old enough, he would've killed them himself. I was only defending their honor, my parent's were good people." Charles said quietly, unable to lift his head to look into the eyes of anyone who was present.

"Sissy boy." The second boy muttered under his breath. Serena had to do nothing because Jed took the time to glare at Jacob.

"Jacob, did you say such things about Charles' parents?" Serena asked quietly.

"I did. It's true. Anyone who worked for the Alliance should have rotted in hell! You think I'm scared of you? You think I should listen to you because you took me in for the last few years? I don't owe you anything _Serena!_ You're so full of yourself, you think you know so goddamned much… fuck this! You don't know anything about me or my life, so just get off my back!" With that, the boy turned and began walking away from the crowd. Jed, obviously floored by the boy's attitude, moved to grab hold of him and knock some sense into him. But Hiiro got to the boy first.

Gently he grasped onto the boy's shoulders and turned him so he was facing Serena. "She asked you a question, and gave you no provocation. You owe her an apology. Now."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" The boy struggled against Hiiro's hold.

"I'm a Preventer, and if you'd like, I can take you to jail for what you've done. Assault, battery, and talking back to an officer would be the first three of many charges I could press. Now you owe her a decent apology." Hiiro made sure his voice was cool and even, though he felt as though this boy should be given a good beating instead of only forced to apologize. But this was not his place, and he did not own the child. It was for the man Jed and the girl Serena to decide. He noted the dirty glare he received from the boy, but did not let it affect him in the least. One last firm shake on the kid's shoulder, and the boy finally broke.

"I'm sorry Serena." Hiiro let go, and was rewarded with another dirty look. Silence befell the crowd. Then Serena finally recovered.

"Thank you Jacob. Now I would like to remind you that, while you do not owe me anything, and you are right in that I do not know everything about you, I do know a great deal more than you think. Everyone here has been through the same thing you have with your parents. But those wars are over, and we all one people now. There is no Alliance, as there is no OZ, and no colonies force. We are part of the same Earth Sphere Unified Nation, ESUN, and we get along. It is fighting over the past that has led to every war that has come upon us. Let's not repeat the cycle? And Jacob, I would like to remind you there are children here, and as adult as you are, that type of language is not permitted within these walls. This is a sanctuary for these kids, don't bring the outside world in here."

"Jacob, Charles, I do not want to see you two fighting again. Once more, and I will take more drastic action—with or without Serena's consent." Jed warned darkly. Serena shot him a look.

"Jed…"

"No Serena, they need…"

"Not here Jed." She cut him off. Turning back to the group of kids that had been watching, she smiled. "Well, why don't you all go back to playing before the rain starts? Go on, go!" She shooed them away, and suddenly the dismal courtyard was filled with the life only children could bring to a place. Laughter and giggling rang out, and yelling of names and rules of games echoed through the arched hallways. The two boys who had fought still stood motionless before Serena and Jed.

"I will take action next time." Jed warned. "De mortis nihil nisi bonum, Jacob. Now, go play with the others while you have the chance." With that dismissal, the two went their separate ways, and both Jed and Serena turned to their visitors.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Serena smiled. "Hiiro Yui, wasn't it? I'm glad to see you got home alright, Hiiro." She smiled brightly, and Jed looked at her questioningly.

"You know these people Serena?"

"I met Hiiro last night—though I don't yet know his three friends." Jed's line of questioning was halted as Hiiro felt the urge to properly introduce everyone.

"Serena, this is Duo Maxwell. Duo, Serena." He roughly stated. Serena gave Duo a warm handshake, and then knelt down in front of him. Both Hiiro and Duo were confused until they realized that Duo's two daughters were still hiding behind his legs.

"And who do we have here?" She questioned, smiling.

"Girls?" Duo dragged one out from behind him, and let the other follow on her own. "Can you introduce yourselves to Serena?"

"My name is Kalei."

"Mine is Kory."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you two. If you would like, you may go play with the others, I know they would love to meet you." Serena pointed to where Michael, the young boy they had met earlier, was standing with a ball and staring at the two girls. Immediately the two sought their father's permission.

"Go ahead, go." Duo knew when he had been beaten.

"Don't worry Mr. Maxwell, they'll be quite safe, I promise." Serena laughed lightly, and then nodded to Jed. "Shall we go back into the church and talk? It is rather loud out here, and the kids don't need to be bothered with any of our business." Without waiting for a response, she turned and headed back for the door to the church. Jed, the silent follower, tailed her closely, keeping an eye on the two men who were still strangers to be reckoned with in his eyes.

Once they were back in the sacred building, Serena turned and smiled gently. Sitting on the step up to the alter, she invited the others to do so. Both Hiiro and Duo refused, and Jed simply whirled towards her and began.

"Serena, you are too nice with those boys. They would have ripped each other apart, along with anything that stood in their way, including you. Don't tell me you don't have a bruise from where Jacob grabbed you and threw you back so he could get to Charles. It's not worth keeping them here if you're going to be hurt!"

"And what am I going to do with them? Throw them out? Let them continue thinking that it's all right to fight? If they won't learn it anywhere else, then it's up to me, to us, to teach them differently."

"You can't save everyone Serena!" Jed stopped. Looking down at the blonde woman before him, he suddenly felt as if he had taken it too far. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"Jed. I saved you, didn't I?" Serena's voice was low, and her eyes were downcast. "Tell me then Jed. If you weren't a lost cause when I reached you, who is? I saved you, the same way I'll help to save those boys. It will take work, but eventually I will succeed where others have failed."

"Don't think you can compare my situation to theirs. There's quite a difference between the two." Jed mumbled. But he knew when he was beat.

"Of course not Jed. Why don't you go check on the children? I'll see to our guests." Her bright smile seemed a little too bright in Hiiro's eyes, but he said nothing. As Jed strolled out of the room, he gave one last glance at Serena, and then at the two men, and shook his head.

"So. Mr. Yui and Mr. Maxwell. What can I do for you?" Serena turned her full attention to them. Duo cleared his throat, and Hiiro stepped forward.

"Last night you said something to me in another language. I just wanted to know what it meant."

"You mean you went through all this trouble just to find out?" Serena laughed in disbelief. Hiiro frowned slightly. Well, yes, that was all he wanted to know. That he would tell her anyway. What was he supposed to say, that he also wanted to return to the place where he had tried to commit suicide, held a gun to his head at point blank, and failed to accomplish his mission? Of course not. Of course not!

"Well, I told him I remembered that this church, when I was a little boy, used to be pen pals with my church—I grew up in a church you see—and that you might know Latin. I just didn't know you would be the same person that had told Hiiro the phrase." Duo chimed in. "You know, I can't believe this place is still an orphanage."

"It has been an orphanage for many years, and I don't think it will ever change. I've grown up here, and as long as I remain, this church, well, it's not really a church anymore, but the point is, this building will always be a home for children who have no where else to go. But that's such a sad thought!" Serena smiled. "Were you really pen pals with our church?"

"Yeah, I think my pal's name was John. John Keith. I only wrote to him for a year though, after that the church where I was living was destroyed in a fire, and I was on my own."

"That's terrible!" Serena shuddered. "But I do remember a boy here by the name of John Keith. I wish I could give you good news, but unfortunately, John joined the OZ army when they came through town here. He has been MIA for some time now. Still, I'm amazed that you remember! It's amazing the connections people have with one another, isn't it?" She laughed.

"It is! So do you still teach Latin here? John used to use catch phrases all the time." Duo laughed as he made small talk. He knew that if he didn't, it would be a one-way conversation between them and Serena, Serena doing all the talking and Hiiro possibly grunting every now and then.

"We do. I make sure that all of the children who stay here are properly educated. I know how important it is—I myself was a high school drop out. I wouldn't ever wish that on anyone."

"How do you teach if you never finished school?" Hiiro clipped. Truth be told, he was very interested to hear her whole story. She was a very… different person. Here Serena was, and she had to be no older than twenty, already running an orphanage? It stuck him as odd, and at the same time rather wonderful. It was amazing to think that someone still had such a large heart as she did in this world. So innocent, she had been sheltered in this church her whole life, how could she possibly know that fighting would not solve anything? Actually, it made him want to laugh. She reminded him of Relena slightly, with her naivety of pacifism.

"Oh, well, I've gone back to school and finished now. But it took me a while to realize how important it was. I hated school when I was in it, so I try to make it better for these kids. I figure that if I change everything I hated about school, that maybe they'll like it and want to learn more. Here Jed and I try to instill a sense of passion for learning and living. By the way, that's what I said to you last night. Dei gratia, dum vivimus vivamus means by the grace of God, while we live, let us live. You just looked so lost last night, I thought that the words might help. I didn't even think that you might not know what they meant."

"How come you teach a dead language anyway?" Duo asked curiously. Serena smiled.

"I just like the sound of it. There are several different languages that are not used anymore, did you know that? Spanish, Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, even Celtic, they're all dead languages like Latin."

"Do you teach them all?" Hiiro narrowed his eyes.

"Me? No way! I don't know all those languages! Hey, I can barely get two down!" She laughed lightly. Duo smiled and laughed with her. Hiiro's eyes lightened, and he relaxed. Suddenly, a large booming clap of thunder shook the air and everything around them. A flash of lightening lit up the sky and the colorful stained glass windows seemed to glow with an ethereal light of swirling colors and mixed images. The candles that had been lit behind them on the alter blew out, leaving the three of the sitting in relative darkness. Then a quiet surrender came over them, and the world stood still for a short moment in time.

"I need to call the children in." Serena broke the silence, her whispered words cutting through the electric air like a knife. She stood slowly, then moved towards the door. As she disappeared, a gust of chilly wind rattled the doors, blowing them open with a vengeance.

"Duo, get the doors!" Hiiro yelled over the deafening noise. As the wind rushed through the church, high pitched groans of the wooden support beams and screaming wind tunnels screeched in their eardrums. The two ex-pilots raced down the aisles of the church. Each grabbed one of the heavy doors, and using all of their strength, they pushed and pulled until the doors were closed behind them. As they locked the doors, another round of killer thunder ripped through the atmosphere, and shivers went through their spines.

"I have to find my girls." Duo huffed, ever the worried father. Hiiro nodded in understanding. He cared about them too, after all. Turning around to go back to the other side of the church, they found a group of children were streaming in from the door, and Jed stood watching them in disbelief.

"Amazing. You must be strong if you were able to close those doors." The robed man nodded at the boys before him. "Serena asked me to ask if you would like to stay for lunch? The storm won't be letting up anytime soon, so you might as well."

"Sure." Duo agreed easily as his eyes never left his two daughters, who had rushed in to hug him and then gone back to playing with their new friends. Hiiro glared at the braided boy.

"Where did Serena go?" He questioned.

"She had some business to attend to. We'll only be in here for a moment longer, and then we'll go to a more comfortable place for lunch. I don't think we were ever properly introduced. My name is Jed. The kids call me Brother Jed, but I'm not a real priest, or anything Holy really. I simply like living this way. I think of it as a way to atone for my past."

"What did you do that you need to atone for?" Hiiro's eyes narrowed, and his mind instantly switched from his relaxed mode to his intricate thinking and deductive soldier mode.

"I would care not to speak of it." Jed was visibly uncomfortable. "But I'm not dangerous, if that's what you think."

"I doubt Serena would let you stay here if you were." Duo added thoughtfully, trying to make the man feel more at ease. "So what is Jed short for anyway? Jeddadiah?"

"No, Jadeite actually."


	5. Not Quite Right

Chapter Five: Something is Wrong

"Alright! I want everyone into the kitchen, now!" A loud voice called over the noise of children, who had begun to whimper in a panicked fear of the storm. Serena was trying to rope all of the kids into the door off to the side of the church, and not many of them were listening.

"You all heard her, to the kitchen!" Jed announced, turning away from the two pilots and towards Serena. He grabbed the kids closest to him, and began shoving them towards the door. More followed, and soon all the kids were filing in a messy line out the door and following Serena down the arched walkway of wild vines and overgrown roses.

"Come on Daddy!"

"Uncle Hiiro!" The twins, caught in the shuffle of the orphans, managed to shout out to Duo and Hiiro, who followed blindly. Soon the entire group that had been gathered in the cathedral was now fitted into a much smaller, homier room.

There was no real line or pattern to the layout of the entire room; large, rectangular tables were placed in random places throughout, and the children immediately ran for the empty chairs. At the front of the room was a small, partitioned off area that held countertops, a stove, large dishwasher, fridge, and oven. It was obviously the place where the food was prepared, while the kids ate at the tables. The walls were decorated with pictures of kids, both color, and older still, black and white photos. There were classes that dated as far back as the late 1800's, and Duo and Hiiro eyed each other with a slight bit of awe held within each of their eyes. This orphanage had been around as long as the church had.

"We're just going to sit and eat lunch kids, so each of your tables, counting backwards today, needs to line up to get your food." Jed smiled at the children as he nodded to one of the tables. There was some cheering, and a lot of groaning around the room as the kids Jed had nodded at instantly jumped from their seats and ran towards the large buffet table at the very front of the room near to the actual kitchen.

"Backwards?" Duo asked curiously.

"The kids know that each table they sit at has a number, and Serena and I always let the kids get their food by table. It just happens that a lot of the kids chose table one today, hoping I would go that way. Nope!" He smiled fondly, watching the kids.

"Jed," Serena approached them. "Can I please speak to you? Privately?" Her eyebrows were crinkled, and worry lines were etched near her azure eyes. It was apparent that she thought something was wrong.

"Hiiro, why don't we go help the twins get their food?" Duo offered, excusing them from the conversation. Hiiro glanced once more at both the leaders of the orphanage, and then nodded.

"Right." Once they were out of earshot, Jed focused completely on Serena.

"What's wrong Sere?"

"Jed, I can feel my skin crawling, and the back of my head is tingling. Something bad is about to happen." She shuddered. Not now, please not now… she prayed mentally.

"What? What's wrong Serena?" Jed dropped his kind, priestly appearance and took on the personality of a far more worldly being.

"I don't know exactly what's wrong, it's just… since the other night, since last night, something has been wrong. I think something happened. I think… I think maybe I did something bad…" Her gaze lowered to the ground, and she crossed her arms over her chest, to protect herself from anything that might try to enter her heart.

"Like what? Let's face it Serena. As long as I've known you, you have never made any mistakes. And I have known you for quite a while." He smirked.

"Not this time. This time I think I pushed it too hard. I think that there's an unbalance in the system, in the web. Jed, something's just not right, and I think I know what I did, but I'm not sure yet. I need time to find out if I'm right or not. But right now… I need to go. I need to be in the cathedral, just in case." Jed's eyes went wide.

"You can't mean it's that bad?" Slowly he adjusted the robe around his next, feeling suddenly constricted. When she nodded without speaking, he groaned. "Not good. Well, I'll watch the kids. And our guests. Just go do what you have to."

"Thanks Jed. Be careful, and don't let anything happen to those kids. Or I might kill you!" She laughed nervously, and it was obvious to both that she was trying to cover up for the severity of the situation. Quickly, she hurried out the door, leaving Jed sighing in her wake.

"Hey, Hiiro, come here." Duo called his friend from across the room. Hiiro, who had been sitting between the twins, stood and crossed over to his comrade. He had seen Serena and Jed arguing, well, it had been discussing seriously more than fighting really, but anyway, he had watched them and been worried. What was so wrong that she would go running out like that? She had had her back to him, making lips reading impossible, and from Jed's words, they could have been discussing just about anything.

"What do you want?" He snidely asked Duo. Duo rolled his eyes at Hiiro's attitude, but continued.

"Check this out. I was looking at the pictures on the wall here, and I found something interesting. These pictures, the black and white ones, what do you notice?" Hiiro gave Duo a hard side-glance, but then looked at the photos closely.

"What? The kids are still wearing the same uniform?" He sarcastically spat.

"No, look. Their teachers are a bunch of nuns and a priest. Now before you pull out a gun and threaten me because I called you over for a stupid reason, I promise I have a reason." Duo smiled slightly. Hiiro shuddered. They had known each other for too long.

"Fine." Hiiro nodded. "Continue."

"Well, check these pictures out. These are from the late twentieth century. The nineties, I think they were called." Duo pointed to a picture. The children in the picture were lined up, just as they had been before, right in front of the fountain in the square of the church courtyard. Their uniforms were the same. And the teachers were now Jed and Serena. Hiiro froze in place.

"That's not possible." He finally concluded.

"But look, and it's not the first time. Every five years they took a picture, and just like clockwork, Serena and Jed are in every single one. Hiiro, they're in all of the pictures from exactly 1998 to now."

"It must be people that look like them, it's not possible Maxwell." Hiiro shook his head again, and blinked. But his eyes were not playing tricks on him. He heard Duo snort in disdain.

"You know better than that Hiiro. You know as well as I do that your eyes are not seeing things. We're really looking at over two centuries of the same pair running this orphanage and church. Know something else? I remembered the name of the woman who ran my pen pal program wasn't Sara, but Serena. I remembered because I thought back over everything I had talked to my pen pal about, and I do recall him saying he had a really hot teacher named Serena. I didn't remember until I saw him in his picture on the wall, but I'm sure of it. Hiiro, Serena and Jed have been here for longer than you and I can count!"

"How is that possible?" Hiiro muttered. It wasn't that he didn't believe Duo—it was that he did believe him.

"Something wrong guys? You look a little worried?" Jed approached them, smiling. Duo looked at him as if he was a ghost, and Hiiro gave him a nasty glare. Then both of them managed to collect themselves.

"No, we were just looking at the picture from my pen pal's time here."

"Pen pal?" Jed looked at him questioningly.

"Duo was telling Serena that while he was growing up in a church's orphanage, he wrote to someone here through a pen pal program." Hiiro explained smoothly. He and Duo would not yet let slip that they knew Jed and Serena's secret. After all, if they did, they might never learn the true answer to their questions.

"Oh yes!" Jed brightened. "We did have a program like that here for a while. Then one of the churches we were doing it with met with an unfortunate accident, and since then we haven't gone back. So you were an orphan at that church? Father Maxwell was a kind old man—you must have taken your name from him, correct?"

"How did you know?" Duo asked, very guardedly. His name was a very personal subject, and it was shocking that the man before him, the weird one from the pictures, had deduced such a clue from such a small amount of information.

"I guessed." Jed smiled, catching the braided man's uncomforted front and rather enjoying the power he had to make him squirm. These men, visitors, were very cocky for such young men. It was someone like him who was needed to put a little uncertainty into their lives; otherwise they would never question anything about their lives or existence.

"Well." Duo shifted. "Good guess."

"Duo, we were supposed to pick Dorothy up at the airport at one. If we want to get there in time, we should leave now." Hiiro clipped, not looking at either of the men he was talking to, but the two girls who had cheerfully begun to eat with the rest of the kids in the orphanage. Before Duo or Jed could reply, he had moved towards the girls to bring them away from their happy lunch conversations.

"Sorry." Duo shrugged. "He has a mind of his own. Well, I guess we'll be off then. Hiiro got his questions answered, and we need to be picking our friend up."

"Of course, I understand." Jed nodded. "Serena's busy in the church, so I'll show you out through the cemetery, if that's alright?" He watched Duo visibly pale, and his smile grew.

"I guess." Duo was at a loss, what else could he possibly have said? A cemetery! With dead people! And here he was, trapped in a conversation with a man who was technically supposed to be dead—decades ago!

"Let's go." Hiiro rejoined them, giving one of the crying twins to Duo.

"We don't want to go daddy! We wanna play more!" The girls sobbed. "Uncle Hiiro is mean! Says we have to go! Let us stay! Please?"

"Sorry girls, Uncle Hiiro is right, we have to go now. We promised to pick your Auntie Dorothy up from the airport. Don't you want to see Auntie Dorothy?" Duo shushed them softly.

"No!" His tries had little effect. Hiiro shrugged.

"I tried that too." He offered. The braided haired father only shook his head and adjusted the crying child in his arms.

"Hiiro, Jed here says that because Serena's busy in the church, we'll have to go out through the cemetery." Hiiro's eyes widened, then he paused.

"Alright." Without so much as a reason to Duo, he began walking towards the door. Jed quickly caught up, and began to lead the way, Duo trailing behind in shock. But Hiiro was in his own silent bout of disbelief. The cemetery had backed up to this church? Something he had not known last night, when he had been in the graveyard trying to kill himself. Something Serena had forgotten to mention when she had him walk her home via the streets. So that was why she had heard him and the gunshot, the church backed up to the cemetery. But she had not said anything to him about it. Why? Why had she purposefully left that out of their conversation? And somehow all of this had to do with that cathedral and the pictures that were displayed in the kitchen.

"It's not too much farther." Jed called out through the rain. "I am sorry about having to take you this way. It's just that Serena hates being disturbed when she's in the church."

"Is she praying?" Duo asked. Jed stopped and turned back, his brown hood falling back from his head in the movement. Rainwater dripped in small rivers down over his eyes and cheeks, and his once blonde hair had become dark brown as it was soaked and matted down in the bad weather. He looked like a completely different person—a darker person.

"I told you. We no longer use the cathedral for religious worship. It is a place of refuge. Serena merely seeks refuge."

"From what?" Hiiro clipped.

"From herself, perhaps?" Jed glared darkly. "Neither you nor I are worthy of judging her or her actions. Come on." He pulled his hood back up, not that it was much help in the constant downpour, and continued his walk. Hiiro snorted, and followed.

"Ah!" Duo's voice rang out in a small cry of surprise. Hiiro looked back to see that his comrade had tripped in the darkened day, and was half laying on the muddy ground, half on a broken tombstone. Kalei, the twin he had been carrying, screamed and began to cry harder. Hiiro turned back and quickly reached Duo. Putting Kory down, he reached over and leant Duo a hand in standing up and steadying.

"Why did you stop?" Jed returned to ask. "One moment you were behind me, the next you're not. Don't do that."

"Sorry, but I tripped over this broken headstone." Duo glared. He really did not like this Jadeite character.

"What?" Jed paled. "There are no broken headstones here. This is a sacred cemetery." He roughly pushed Duo out of the way and grabbed the fallen stone. Turning it over just enough to read the name, he gave a startled cry and leapt back. "No…" He whispered. "No!"

"What's no?" Hiiro gruffly questioned, ignoring Jadeite's terrified expression and picking Kory back up. Duo did the same with Kalei.

"She was right, this can only mean something is wrong… Serena…" Shaking his head and backing up, Jed stopped. "The road id straight ahead, you can find it easily. I have to go, Serena will be needing me." With those finally words, Jadeite stumbled slightly over his own two feet, then turned and raced off, back through the graveyard at a breakneck pace.

"Something terrified him." Duo muttered. Hiiro nodded. Handing Kory to Duo, Hiiro bent over and began to lift the tombstone to read the name.

"Hiiro." Hiiro stopped and looked at Duo. "Something's not right here. Something's wrong, it feels wrong. Let's go? Please?"

"We need to know what frightened him away." Fearlessly, Hiiro lifted the tombstone. The engraving was simple, it read only as a small phrase. As Hiiro read the words forever left behind to commemorate the death of the corpse that rested beneath his feet, he felt a wave of incredible cold and death come over him. Shivering violently, he dropped the stone marker and grabbed Kory back. "Let's go Duo, let's move!" The last of his words were shouted more as an order than anything, and Duo didn't have to hear it twice. The two men, carrying the small children in their arms raced for the safety of the street, beyond the reach of the dead.

Just up ahead they could see the gates for the cemetery, and as soon as they had exited them, they exhaled with a sigh of relief. The street, for all that it had become a raging black river in the storm, was a sight for sore eyes. They walked the short block to the front of the cathedral, and Duo strapped the two girls into the back of his care quickly while Hiiro wiped the water from his motorcycle's seat and hopped on. Duo pulled up beside him.

"Meet you at home?"

"Yeah." Duo took off, and Hiiro revved his engine. Suddenly, Duo's car was coming back it him in full reverse.

"Hiiro… out of curiosity, what did the headstone say?"

"It read: 'Here we lay Chaos to rest in hopes that order will return to the world.'"

Check in! How is it? –Vixen


	6. La Mort

Chapter Six: La Mort

His feet could not carry him back to the cathedral fast enough. The faster he ran, the less ground he seemed to cover. Without hesitation, Jed ran over the graves of the people who had been dead for so many long centuries. But he wasn't particularly thinking about that at the moment. More so, he was thinking of reaching Serena before anything could happen. Not even he knew what that girl, woman, was capable of in an unstable state of mind. The heavy rumbling in the distance gave him little hope as he pressed on to his intended destination.

What did that mean? A broken headstone? A million possibilities rushed through his head. That particular headstone had been there, in that graveyard, untouched and undisturbed for generations, centuries. That tombstone had been older than anything in this town, save the cathedral itself. It had stood the test of time, of progress and war, of poverty, desolation, and destruction, and only now it had cracked in half. This was surely a sign, but of what?

Jed shuddered as the rain fell harder. The tangled branches of the overgrown trees reached for him, as if to hold him back from his goal. Slipping in the mud, he felt the gooey muck ooze into his fingers, clothes, and skin. His nose twitched from the burning and rancid stench of the lightening that charged the air, and a bolt sent from the heavens above struck the ground beside him. The electricity around him raged, and gave him the strength to push his muscles to the breaking point. His lungs burned and every part of his body was sent on fire by the extra adrenaline that was pumping through his veins.

All too well could he remember what that tombstone represented. That small, rounded piece of stone had meant so much to him in his life—it represented everything that he had denounced. For years he and Serena had been working together in this orphanage, longer than any mortal soul could imagine, all to watch and guide those who needed help. This work was his retribution to humanity, his way of apologizing for any and all of the truly heinous acts he had committed during his lifetime.

Up ahead, the cathedral seemed to glow as a beacon of light and safety. Racing in as quickly as he could, Jed worked his way through the courtyard, past the fountain, and into the door through which he could reach the main part of the gothic building. As he pushed the heavy door open, he stopped completely. Slowly and reverently he lowered his head and silently swished his way into the room.

Within the cathedral, all the candles had been lit. Each of the ten columns that lined the length of the main aisle were now decorated with colored banners embroidered with gold and bearing the planetary symbols, as well as that of the moon. Upon the once vacant alter sat a tiny golden locket, a small star shaped token from a place long since forgotten. Before the alter and upon the stone steps was the woman Jed had sought so relentlessly. Serena knelt, her head bowed in careful precision, and her soft prayers echoing throughout the empty church in a tongue that had been dead longer than that of Latin or Japanese. As he approached, her words died away, and she soon stopped all together.

"Serena?" His voice was tentative. Not wanting to interrupt, but needing to all the same, he could think of no other way to approach this problem. Perhaps she would have the answers.

"Something is very wrong Jadeite. I'm not sure exactly what, but I do know something had happened that has thrown everything off balance." She paused, and finally looked up at him. "You're all muddy. What happened?"

"I took them to their cars through the graveyard, so I wouldn't disturb you. Serena… I saw the gravestone. It's broken, cracked right in half and laying in the mud, as if it has always there." As he spoke, Serena's eyes widened and she gasped slightly. The millions of thoughts that had been running through her head, the possibilities for the negative waves of energy that were circulating in the atmosphere suddenly drained from her mind; as did the color in her face.

"Serena, are you alright?" Jed, now having caught his breath and calmed down slightly, took the moment to be concerned about his mentor's health.

"Fine." She whispered. Then she stopped short. In the flickering light of the candles, her eyes searched the empty stone ceiling for answers to her prayers. "I'm not fine Jadeite. Something had to have cracked that headstone, and I'm fairly certain it wasn't an accident. I knew," she paused, heaving a large sigh, "I knew when I put the Chaos that plagued this world to rest that it wouldn't be the end.

"Chaos is not something that can ever truly be put away, or to rest. Every being has a little chaos within themselves. Dogs, cats, humans, every creature that walks this planet has some form of chaos. The trick is not to seal it away and pretend like it doesn't exist, but to understand that it exists and then work around it. Now, if Chaos has returned, something must have thrown the balance of Chaos and order off. We just need to figure out exactly what happened. When we know what exactly occurred the awaken Chaos, we can simply correct the mistake and then put her to rest once again."

Jed slowly nodded, understanding what she was saying. "But Serena, this world is too large for us to go through every little thing that happened in every person's life meticulously. And we don't have a timeframe for when the headstone cracked, so we don't know when to start."

"Well, I know that the headstone with fully intact when I was in the graveyard last night, so we have the timeframe from late last night to this afternoon."

"Why were you in the graveyard last night?" Jadeite narrowed his eyes at Serena's small figure. She squirmed beneath his look, and laughed nervously.

"Oh, you know! I'm always sleep walking and doing crazy stuff after I eat rhubarb pie!"

"Serena!"

"Oh stop it! I'm a big girl, and I can take care of myself. And anyway, what were you doing up so late last night anyway? You told me you were going to bed at ten, but when I came back in, you were bumping around in your room." She half glared, half laughed at her friend. The tension that had been impregnating the air was seeping away to reveal a lighter friendship, one that they both needed to fall back on now, before things got too messy and there was no time for life.

"I did go to bed at ten! I just… couldn't sleep."

"So you were what? Exercising?"

"No! I decided that my room needed a make over. I was moving the furniture around." His head hung limply at his confession, and Serena's laugh echoed throughout the empty building. "Don't laugh at me!" He implored her, embarrassedly.

"But… who does that? You sound like such a girl! Your room needed a makeover?"

"Stop laughing Sere!" His face, now beet-red, made her laugh even harder.

"Yes, stop laughing Serenity." A cool, hissing voice wafted through the air. It was then that Serena did stop laughing, practically choking from surprise and shock. Jed whipped around, placing one arm out in front of Serena, as if to shield her from the unknown visitor. Yet both knew without sight who was speaking.

"Chaos." Serena stated firmly once she could force her voice to work. "Where are you? Why don't you come out of hiding and just talk to me face to face?"

"Because, little Princess of the Moon, just smelling your fear is wonderful." The voice whispered coolly.

"What do you want Chaos?"

"To be full! To create nothing but devastation and horror throughout your perfect world. I want to feed off of your fear, off of the utter panic of humans, and though you may have stopped me once, rest assured you will not be able to again."

"Why won't you come out and face us!" Jadeite yelled into the thick air.

"Pathetic fool! You have no right to speak to me! I deal with Serenity because of her strength, but you are not worthy!" With that, a gust of air swirled up and pushed Jadeite back to the ground, hard. He landed face first against the stone steps of the alter, and groaned as the pain shot through his body.

"Stop it Chaos! If you're going to fight someone, then let it be me!"

"Too sweet, little Princess!" A deafening scream rang through the air, and Both Serena and Jed winced and made to cover their ears in a desperate attempt to shield them from the noise. Jed rolled around on the floor, writhing in pain and trying to end the shrill noise, as Serena dropped to her knees, gritting her teeth and sobbing in agony. As quickly as the screaming had begun, it stopped, and both fallen soldiers tried to stagger to their feet and deny the pain that was raking their bodies. Serena took her hands from her ears only to find that her left ear had begun to bleed.

"Chaos! I put you to rest once, do not underestimate that I can do it again!" She cried out.

"Shh, Serenity. Everyone has to die sometime. Your time has finally come. But I'll tell you what; we'll make this interesting. I have always enjoyed toying with my food; the fear always tastes so much better. Three days Serenity. You have three days to find me, and then we'll fight. If you fail, however, I will kill you in your sleep. Till then Princess!"

"Chaos! Chaos!" Serena screamed. But the entity that caused nothing but doubt, fear, and panic had already disappeared. Shaking her blonde head, Serena turned her concern to Jadeite, who was still sitting on the floor.

"Jadeite? You alright?" She asked, rushing to his side and kneeling beside him.

"Fine. I think I broke a few ribs, and split my lip, but I'm all right. How are your ears?"

"They'll heal quick enough." Serena lightly raised her hand to touch her left ear. "My ear drum must have burst. She's so much stronger than she was the first time I dealt with her."

"And I couldn't do anything to protect you. Selene, I'm sorry Serena." Jed bowed his head to her in shame.

"No, Jadeite, you tried. She's just so much stronger." She shook her head in disbelief.

"And we only have three days before we have to find her, and kill her?"

"No, not kill her. Jadeite, you know she can't be killed. We'll have to find a new way to imprison her."

"Well, what can she possibly do within only three days? That's not nearly long enough for her to cause any real, permanent damage… Right?" Jed finished, suddenly not too sure of himself.

"I don't know. If she's this strong, who knows what she'll be able to do? For all we know, she might decide to blow up a space colony. Can you imagine what damage that would do?"

"The ESUN would disintegrate, and the Preventers would begin to blame each other… mass chaos!" Jed shuddered. "Just like she would want. Well, we won't let her. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Serena, in the time I've known you, you've never made any mistakes. I'm sure that we'll be able to find her and stop her before it's too late."

"Right." Serena nodded. She didn't want to seem as if she wasn't sure to Jadeite, but inside she was an emotional train wreck. Could she? Would she be able to stop Chaos before it was too late? The last time she had fought Chaos it had been so long ago, she hadn't been fighting in centuries now. The last time she had fought Chaos, she had had her friends to back her up. This time, she was alone. Jadeite was there for moral support, but he could not aid her in the manner her other friends once had. Would Chaos ruin the peaceful world before she could find a new way to imprison her? Well, not if she could help it… could she help it? Her mouth became dry, and it was suddenly hard to swallow. It felt like she had just been on a roller coaster that had been far too fast for her stomach's liking.

"Serena?" Jed waved his hand in front of her face.

"Hmm? I'm sorry, I zoned out. What?" She blinked and focused her electric blue eyes upon Jed.

"I said, what are we going to do about the kids? We can't leave them here without supervision while you and I go off to fight the big bad Chaos monster." Serena's mouth dropped open.

"I didn't even think that far ahead!" Putting her hand to her forehead, she rubbed her right temple as if to try and avert the migraine that was beginning. "Well, Jed, Why don't you stay and watch the kids? It would be best if you did—in the long run."

"What?" Jed blinked, confused by what her logic was. "Why would it be best in the long run?"

"Well, number one, I need to begin to train. I can't exact just find Chaos and then expect the fight her the way I am now. Being rusty would be a hindrance that I don't need. Plus, you're much better with books then I am. I need you to figure out a way to imprison Chaos while I look for her. You can start with the old Moon documents that I hid in the restricted archives in the mausoleum at the edge of the cemetery. Then try the old Christian documents in the library; they used to have good stuff on banishing ghosts and witches when people believed in them. Maybe something in those books will be helpful."

"Stop right there. You want to find Chaos on your own? That's like asking her to come out and kill you on the spot! I won't let you do it Serena! I took an oath to protect you, and if I let you go on your own, how am I supposed to do that when you're out there, and I'm in here?"

"Stop it Jadeite. You took your oath to me, and I'm releasing you from that oath. I trust you. Besides. Jadeite, I'm the only one who can fight her. What's the point in both of us going out and getting killed when only one of us has too?"

"What? No way I'm letting you go now! Getting killed?"

"Jadeite, I'm not going to be killed. I'm just saying that that is our worst scenario case; please understand that I have to think about that. It's not my favorite thing to do, but if it comes down to it, you need to be here if all else fails."

"Serena!"

"No Jadeite. I'm the only one who knows what Chaos is like. I've fought her before; I know what we're up against. Please understand me. You can try to help all you want, but in the end, it will be Chaos versus me. I'm trying to simplify things for all involved."

"I don't like it." Jed growled.

"Jed—"

"No, let me finish. I said I don't like it, but for now, and only for now, I'll agree. I can't do much else right now besides help you find a way to stop her, can I?" He smiled a sad, lonely smile. Serena let one tear run down her cheek.

"Thank you, my old friend. For understanding." Wrapping her thin, white arms around his stronger build, she hugged him lightly.

"Well. Now that we have that covered, I'll go check on the kids, I'm sure they're running around wild in the kitchen." Jed pulled out of her hug and walked away quickly; afraid of the small tug that his heart gave when he lost her warmth.

"All right. I'll be in here, working on building my strength up." She nodded. But Jed had already shut the door on her. And instead of standing to fight, she sat to cry.

Sorry this has taken me so long to get out, I just moved back to AZ, and I haven't had internet hooked up! Ahh! It's a crime not to be on the web! Anyway, I hope you all like it! Much love, Vixen

And a side note: I know Jedeite is how it's spelled, but my computer keeps changing it to Jadeite. I figured I'd rather have the consistently wrong than the half way through correctness. But if you would like, I will change it!


	7. Mourn and Move On

Chapter Seven: Mourn and Move On

A short, blonde man shook his head and laughed slightly as he entered through an office door and shut it behind him. In front of him were four desks, and behind three of them sat placid figures. "Every day here is the same. How do you three deal with it? I just don't understand. It's as if you never move from your spots behind those desks! Every time I walk in here you're all in the same places."

"Winner, if you're going to just waltz right on into our office and make fun of us for working as hard as we do, then get out right now!" A Chinese man gruffly barked in reply.

"My dear friend Quatre, what Wufei was trying to say is that, if you're going to waltz right on in here and make fun of us for hardly working instead of working hard, go right ahead!" Duo grinned. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Hiiro simply shrug. As war comrades went, Hiiro really didn't have anything to say to any of them on a regular basis, so it had generally become acceptable for him not to say anything at all.

"Point taken!" Quatre laughed again. "Well, I see three of you, where's Trowa? His desk is empty."

"Well, since Relena had to be at a press conference today, he was called in to work as a bodyguard. Besides, you know Catherine is in town and that she wanted to go see Relena speak, so she and Dorothy decided last minute to go and support our lovely Vice Foreign Minister, and Sally and Trowa went to be on sight in case of an accident."

"Sally? Isn't she your partner Wufei?" The Chinese man moaned. Duo just laughed.

"She made him sleep on the couch last night. Something about making fun of her braids… the fact that she's Chinese and has blonde hair was too much for him I guess."

"Shut up Maxwell! That is not the reason that I slept on the couch!" He yelled, his face beginning to turn purple.

"So you admit that you slept on the couch?" Duo pressed on, smirking.

"Maxwell, you have another thirty seconds to get out of my sight, or I'm going to bring out my retired katana and have some fun slicing that pretty braid from your head!" Wufei stood, knocking his chair out from under him. Duo began to laugh uncomfortably while standing and making his way to the door.

"Anyone for a drink? I'm dying for a soda…Hey Wufei; did you threaten to chop Sally's braids? Was that reason?"

"Out!" Wufei boomed. Duo yelped and quickly made his exit before anything really did happen to his beloved hair.

"And you call this an unproductive day?" Hiiro deadpanned from behind his desk to Quatre. Wufei turned, paused looking at Hiiro briefly, and then began to laugh. Quatre, too, broke out laughing.

"Seriously." Quatre began once he and Wufei had caught their breaths. "What time do you think that press conference will be over? I wanted to talk to Trowa about something involving Catherine." The blonde man began to blush before he could even finish his sentence.

"Winner? What about the woman?" Wufei asked smugly.

"Well…" Quatre cleared his throat. "All right." His stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a little black, velvet box. "I wanted to get his permission to ask for his sister's hand in marriage."

"That's a big step!" Wufei reached out and plucked the black box from Quatre's hand. Opening the box, he let out a low whistle of approval, then handed it back. Hiiro caught a glimpse of the ring, and even he was impressed. It was a pretty, gold band with a large setting of smaller round diamonds surrounding a larger, pear-shaped central diamond.

"It is a big step, but I love her. So, if she says yes, how do you think I should propose?"

"Knees." Wufei muttered. "That's how women expect it to be done."

"How do you know that?" Quatre eyed him skeptically. Wufei turned a little pink, and avoided eye contact.

"I might have asked Sally to marry me a few months ago. And she might have said no because I didn't propose on my knees like the proper romantic man should. And if Maxwell ever finds out, I will kill both him and the person who told him!" He finished his confession in a deep growl. Hiiro simple grunted knowingly, and Quatre grinned.

"Well then, I suppose I'll get down on my knees!" He laughed, and actually practiced getting down on one knee. Holding the ring out, he repeated famously last words.

"Will you marry me?"

"Shit Quatre, I had no idea that you and Wufei were so close!" Duo, who had just walked in the door, had caught the end of the scene. "And here I thought Wufei loved _me_! But honestly, I cannot believe that you're proposing to him Quatre! Didn't you know that Sally wouldn't even have him? He can't propose romantically enough. Oh, well, maybe that's the reason you're proposing to him! So he can be the woman in your relationship! Wow, everything works out perfectly in the end!"

"Maxwell!" Wufei finally had reached his limit. Lunging after the braided boy, it was obvious that he fully intended to rip Duo to shreds. Duo yelled, dropped his soda, and began running down the hall, Wufei in close pursuit.

"How do you think he knew about Wufei and Sally?" Quatre shook his head grinning. Hiiro shrugged.

"Not like Relena can keep a secret. Sally told Relena, who told Catherine and Hilde, and Duo's married to Hilde. Relena told me."

"Am I the only one out of the loop? Why didn't Catherine tell me?"

"Because Catherine can keep a secret." Hiiro smirked. Quatre shook his head.

"Well, maybe Trowa doesn't know."

"Trowa is with Sally right now."

"And chances are she'll probably tell him. Great!" Quatre sighed. "Hey, you sound a little under the weather. Are you getting sick?"

"I was out in the rain yesterday." Hiiro, who by now was getting used to people commenting on his raspy voice, was also not happy about the sudden weakness in his usually flawless personality.

"Have you tried taking anything? I could get you some of this really great—"

"Attention, Alert!" The Preventer alarm system went off all around them, killing any ideas of medicine that the two had been thinking of. Hiiro immediately picked up him phone and pushed two, his speed dial for reaching Lady Une, head of the Preventers.

"Une, what happened?" He monotonously said into the phone. And then he dropped the receiver.

"Hiiro? Hiiro, what happened?" Quatre couldn't get Hiiro to so much as blink. Picking up the phone, he heard a hysterically sobbing Lady Une. "Une, it's Quatre Winner. What happened? Hiiro's gone into shock."

"They've finally done it!" She screamed.

"Done what?" He yelled, frustrated.

"Damned bastards… someone just shot Relena Peacecraft in the head. She's dead." Quatre too, dropped the phone. The greatest pacifist leader in the world, the one figurehead that everybody could relate with, Relena Peacecraft, Former Queen of the World and current Vice Foreign Minister, was dead.

"Come on Quatre, we have work to do. There'll be riots soon enough—leave your ring here." Hiiro finally stepped back into himself and pulled it together. Grabbing his jacket, he flung it on and pulled out his gun to check his bullets. He was still down one, from his suicide attempt gone a rye. Pulling out a brand new clip, he loaded it quickly and then grabbed an extra. "Do you have a gun Quatre?" The blonde nodded his head. Hiiro nodded. Even in peaceful times the souls of the soldiers could never find true peace.

"Hiiro, are you all right?"  
"She's dead. The world will be in hysterics, like Une. People are going to riot, and want to know who did this. They will blame each other. It's going to be chaos out there. Our job is to keep order in chaos. Let's go."

)( 

"Everyone's going crazy!" A woman with waist-length blonde hair and over-arching eyebrows screamed over the panicking crowd. There were men and woman in business suits trying their hardest to escape the building, afraid not of what they had just seen, but of the thought that they might be the next targets of the assassin. What had once been a peaceful press conference had become a tangled mess of crying, scared people trying to run away.  
"Dorothy, don't let go of my hand, I'll lose you in this crowd!" A second woman with ruddy locks and concerned slate eyes called to the blonde.

"Don't worry about that Catherine. We're the only people in the building not trying to get out; I think we'll be fine. Come on, we have to get up onto stage and help Trowa and Sally—I hope Relena's going to be alright."

As the people streamed out through the doors, the women found it was easier to get up to the front of the room then they had originally thought it might be. Dorothy climbed up the stage slowly, while Catherine hoisted herself up gracefully.

"You know, sometimes I wish I was as limber as you." The blonde shook her head. "I bet Quatre just loves that in bed!" Catherine blushed.

"I work in a circus for a living, I have to be flexible." She made her excuses. Then her eyes caught a horrific scene. "Oh my god! Relena!" Dorothy too, quickly turned to see what had made Catherine gasp.

"Oh my…"

"I'm going to be sick." Catherine slid to floor, eyes still trained on her good friend who lay motionless in a pool of blood.

"Turn away from it Catherine!" Dorothy, ever the cool and collected woman of the group, forced Catherine to face away from the body, and the red headed woman began to gag over the side of the stage.

"Why are you two still here?" Another womanly voice softly cut through the now silent air.

"Cathy's sick Sally." Dorothy answered. "We just had to see how Relena was…"

"Well, Trowa's checking the exits and balconies, but right now it's looking as if our shooter has already escaped."

"Sally, why aren't you with Relena?" Catherine said, poking her head up from the stage and wiping the corners of her mouth delicately with her skirt. Sally simply shook her head, and fought back tears.

"I'm sorry girls. Relena… the assassin had the perfect shot. Relena didn't feel any pain, death was instantaneous." And it was then that Catherine, Dorothy and Sally all began to cry.

"Everything's clear." A tall, brown haired man stepped out from behind the curtains. His eyes narrowed when he saw all three women together, sitting on the edge of the stage and crying. "Catherine, Dorothy, you should have left when everyone else did, it wasn't safe to remain." When no one answered him, he looked to his right and saw that, just behind the podium lay the body of a slender, pale woman. The woman's face had been completely blown in by the bullet entry wound, and the pool of sticky dark red blood had began to trickle down the stage and drip onto the floor below.

"Sally?"

"She was dead instantaneously. She didn't suffer. I already called Une in for backup." The woman sniffed, wiping away her tears. Suddenly the front doors burst open, and in from the sunshine came seven figures, each carrying guns. They fanned out and made their ways down the aisles and rows of seats until they reached the stage.

"We're clear on stage. Une, you might not want to come up." Trowa called down to them. As soon as he said that, however, he knew she was going to anyway. It was hard enough to find out that one of your dearest friends was dead, but to not have any closure would be the worst thing of all.

"I brought Relena's brother Zechs and her sister-in-law Noin with us." Quatre told Trowa.

"I can't believe this happened." Duo shook his head. Hiiro simply stared at the blood as it flowed in a small trickle and then dripped into a puddle on the floor in front of him. The new arrivals finally all managed to climb the stage and look over at the sight that had made the three women so sick. Une instantly broke out in tears, while Lucretia Noin held her husband in a strong hug. Quatre instantly turned to comfort Catherine, who was still sobbing too hard to see clearly, and Trowa offered his hand to Dorothy, who used it as a lever to both pull herself up from the floor, and draw strength from. And Sally, who had been tending to the body, simply allowed herself to fall into the arms of her boyfriend Wufei, who held her softly, wishing that this had never occurred.

"What are we going to do now?" Une whispered hoarsely. Duo clapped her shoulder.

"We'll do what we always do. Mourn and move on."

"We can't without Relena. We just can't!" Catherine cried. And for a moment no one said anything. Everyone felt as though they should say something, about what to do without their leader, or to comfort the group of people who had been so close to her, but no words were enough. So silence stood on its own, as a tribute and memorial to their dearest friend, their peacekeeper. And then Hiiro finally spoke.

"Duo, pull the curtain down and cover her body. Sally, the medical team is waiting outside by now. Tell them what you need to have done with her body. I want it kept in a safe morgue, under heavy guard non-stop. Quatre, you and Trowa need to go through this building again for any clues as to who shot her. I need both you, Zechs, and you, Une, to be ready to hold press conferences of your own regarding the unfortunate death of our leader, the Vice Foreign Minister. Duo when you finish covering her, take Dorothy, Cathy home; they don't need to be here for this. And you need to tell Hilde. Wufei, you, Noin, and I are on patrol. We're going to stop any riots before they have a chance to break out."

"Jesus Christ Hiiro Yui! Relena Peacecraft, your almost girlfriend, just died! Don't you have any heart?" Dorothy snapped. Hiiro narrowed his eyes.

"Every minute that we wait longer to take action to act on her death is another minute that chaos is going to break out all over this city, all over the world and colonies. We can't afford to have hearts right now Dorothy; we should be more concerned with stopping another war before it starts. You know exactly what's going to happen, one psycho who thought it would be a good idea to shoot Relena will now turn the colonies against the Earth, and before we know it, mobile dolls will be on the assembly lines again. Relena wouldn't want that to happen." No one spoke for a moment, and then everyone seemed to understand. Quietly, they began to move about, doing the tasks they were assigned.

"Hiiro, are you sure you're all right?" Duo stopped to ask his friend.

"Hnn."

"Well, just know that I'm here for you buddy. And besides… I think that headstone is going to your head. What's with you and chaos?"

"Nothing. It just seems to fit. Duo, cover her up before the girls can't take it anymore."

"Right." The braided boy nodded, still in shock. Maybe Hiiro was right. It was weird that Relena was dead, in a chaotic sort of way.


	8. Anarchy

Chapter Eight: Anarchy

"Where is Serena? Why isn't she eating dinner with us tonight?" Jed looked down to see that a little girl was tugging on his brown shift. He sighed. This was the fourth child that had asked him before he had even told them which table could get up to get their food first.

"When you sit down, I'll explain it to you, I promise Keiko." The little girl nodded and ran to pick a seat. Once all of the kids were sitting, Jed cleared his throat.

"Serena's won't be here for dinner tonight because she's incredibly busy trying to help some people outside the church. She did say, however, that she loves you and wants you to have a good dinner. All right, so tonight we're going to count backwards again! Go to it!"

Jed stood and watched as the oldest kids, the ones who were sitting at the last table, got up first, grinning and smirking with each other. Apparently they were pleased they had guessed the correct tables tonight. As they stood in line for the buffet of food laid out before them, he could hear bits and pieces of their conversations. There were clothing topics between the girls, and three of the boys were discussing the upcoming football season. It was good to hear them all so relaxed and carefree. He doubted he had ever been that carefree as a child, and was glad he could help others have what had never had.

Suddenly, a loud clap of thunder sounded overhead, louder than any natural storm. Some of the younger kids screamed, and the older girls jumped. Jed smirked. So Serena was working with thunder. Well, at least the blonde woman would be in a good mood when she was done working out tonight. Play with thunder, fire, water, energy and ice always made her feel like she was somehow connected to her friends, the one that had died before he had ever gotten to truly know anything but their names. He knew that he could never fill the empty gap that they had left within her heart, but that this fight in some ways would help to go on healing it slowly.

"Hey Brother Jed, look outside, look in the courtyard!" One of the older boys called him back out of his thoughts. Jed's eyes drifted slowly to the window, thinking that the boys were only fooling him into looking so they could either begin a food fight, or sneak out of the meal. And then he stopped and stared. Outside in the courtyard, people were pouring in from one of the wrought iron gates that had been locked up and overgrown with weeds for decades. How the people had even found the door on the street was beyond him, it was beneath so many tangles of thorny roses that he himself had given up trying to. Yet here they were, pouring into the church courtyard?

"Candace, James, you two are the oldest, so you're in charge. I'm going to go find out what's going on, keep the kids inside and don't let anyone but me or Serena in."

"Alright Brother Jed." The two teenagers, both seventeen in age, looked at each other in mild shock. What was going on?

Jed snuck out the kitchen door and into the courtyard. Standing on the edge of the fountain, he noticed that people were beginning to gather to him, and as the courtyard filled with more and more people, they encircled him, as if waiting for him to speak. Finally, he spoke up.

"Why have you all come here?"

"Father, we didn't know where else to come!" A woman, crying, shouted out to him. "Pray for us! Ask God to repeat the miracle that he once proved he could through Jesus!"

"I'm sorry, what?" Jed blinked.

"Father, we came to the cathedral's doors, but they were locked. Why did you lock us out? No church is ever supposed to be closed to people of faith!" A man yelled.

"You mean to tell me want to pray in the cathedral?" Jed was finally beginning to understand what these people wanted, but not why they wanted it.

"Of course we wanted to pray! It's the only thing left to do! The whole world's gone crazy out there! There's sure to be another war!"

"Yeah, with all of the rioting and protesting, and the finger-pointing, there's bound to be another war!" More and more people began to speak up, shouting out about how the city had become a royal mess.

"Please, stop! Tell me, what could be the cause of another war? The last two wars have ended, and the world and colonies are at peace! The ESUN has been working hard, along with the Preventers to keep us safe, why would they allow another?" Then, suddenly, the crowd went silent. The first woman who had spoken now spoke again, but this time she was much quieter.

"Father, don't you know?"

"Know what?"

"Relena Peacecraft. Someone shot and killed Relena Peacecraft." Jed stopped. Had he really heard them right? Relena Peacecraft was dead? But she was the public glue that held politics together. She was the one person that was nonpartisan in every decision. So then; Chaos had already begun to play her hand of cards.

"Please! Father! Help us! We're scared, we don't want another war! Can't you pray for us? Ask God to resurrect her? Ask for a new savior? Ask for something, anything to prevent another war? We need a miracle!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not a Father, my name is Jed, and I simply help to maintain the orphanage that resides here. And this is no longer a place of worship. So please, if you wish to pray, go home and pray to your God. Or better still, go to the church down the street, the new one, and pray there. Don't come barging in here, breaking open the gates, and expecting a miracle from God!" By now he had used his last iota of patience, and these people, these disgusting sheep, scared to reap what they had sown, were coming crying to him? No. He would not let them disturb Serena's training, nor the children. "Get out! Get out of here right now!"

"Jadeite." A calm, peaceful voice stopped his rampage. Pushing her way through the crowd, Serena stood up on the edge of the fountain beside him. "If you feel that you need a place of worship, please, enter the cathedral and pray. We have no priest here, but I'm sure that God will hear you nonetheless. Please, go around to the front of the church, the doors have been opened for you."

"A woman can't be a priest you know!" Someone called out from the crowd.

"I am not trying to be. I'm Serena, the current owner of the property on which the cathedral sits, and I run this orphanage along with Jed. And I'm telling you, you may go in and do as you see fit." The people finally, after her words, began to filter out of the courtyard slowly, and into the church where they found places to sit and begin their prayers.

"Serena! Why did you do that? Now you have no place to train!" Jed let his anger and frustration out to her. She simply smiled.

"She's getting to you Jed."

"She's not getting to—huh? What?"

"I said, she's getting to you. You're letting Chaos make you mad. Don't you see it? She's made these people so scared that they would do anything to make their fear abate, including return to the church and the religion that's barely hanging on to a thread. Just try to have a little more patience. I think I'm starting to get back into the old swing of things anyway. I don't really need the building to practice in, I can go out into the city and help stop the riots. That would be good too. It would weaken her. Well, to a certain extent. I highly doubt that she's going to become weak just because one city has stopped rioting."

"Okay, Serena, that was a really long thought." Serena looked up, and Jed was smiling at her. She smiled back. "Sorry I lost my temper. You were right, she was trying to get to me, but I won't let her. I'll keep watching the kids, just do what you have to do."

"Thanks Jed. And be careful of those people, who knows what Chaos will have them doing next."

"Right. Oh, Serena! Did you here why they were all so scared?"

"Huh? No, I just thought it was all the rioting?" Her blue eyes gazed up at him in concern. "What else did she do?"

"Serena, she killed Relena Peacecraft. These people, they all think another war is about to start!"

"What!" The blonde woman's jaw dropped in awe, and her petite form began to shake. "She didn't even need a full day to bring everything we've worked so hard for, all the peace that humanity just achieved, she didn't even need a full day to topple it!"

"I know. Just be careful, all right? If you aren't, who's going to come back and tell me when I'm losing my temper?" He tried to make their heavy conversation into a joke, but Serena failed to laugh.

"I don't know Jed." With that, she jumped down from the fountain. "I think I'm going to go over to the Preventer's headquarters and see what they've planned to do about the riots. Maybe I can see something they haven't, or help in some way that they can't. See you later Jed." Quickly she turned to leave, without giving Jed any time to object.

"Bye Serena!" He called as she shut the gate behind her. Then she opened it and stepped back into the courtyard.

"I decided I'm going to go transformed. I'll get there faster, and it'll be safer if I take the rooftops." Jed simply nodded. He hadn't seen this in over five hundred years; it was amazing to think that she still could frighten him with such a transformation. He watched as her hand, trembling lightly, reached up to her brooch.

Once she had it grasped in her tight hold, she threw her hand into the air and shouted those words he had once dreaded hearing. But this time, instead of fear or panic; all that washed over him was a warm sense of safety. As light, bright white energy enveloped her small frame, he watched as ribbons of pink slowly spun and wove themselves together to create her outfit. Her boots, gloves, and hair were just as her remembered them to be; he knew she was in her lowest transformation stage. Only her hair, silver instead of gold, had changed over so many years.

"Okay, well, I'm off!" She told him when she had finished. And then she did leave, jumping high onto the top of the fence, and then over it until Jed could no longer see her.

Serena had forgotten how much she truly missed having the wind in her face as she jumped and bounded over rooftops and buildings. She had changed much in the time she had been known as a super heroine, from being a crybaby weakling to being a klutzy princess to being a worried mother, to being a hardened warrior. The last transformation had not been her choice, of course, but now that she was what she was, she could not change back. Besides, she needed all her strength to battle her returned enemy known as Chaos.

"I wonder what my friends would think of me if they could see me now? I wonder what he would think?" She spoke aloud, trying to keep herself company. The sun was finally setting upon the day, though no one would know it from the heavy clouds that were settled in over the city. Her draw to the moon told her that her home was becoming visible, and that made her feel even more lonely than ever. Home was so close, yet so far. Would she ever truly find it?

Landing one last time, she stopped to catch her breath. She had finally arrived at Preventers headquarters. How would she get in? Down below her were rioters, tearing up every part of the street. They were looting the stores around the building, throwing rocks at both windows and people, there were fistfights, cars dragging people underneath them, and shouting and screaming like nothing she had ever heard. These people were completely enraged, and they were letting all of their inhibitions go right on the streets. Even the Preventers building, which had a chain-link fence built around the base and armed guards every three feet apart, wasn't safe from the vandalism that was going around. Well, she wouldn't be able to enter from the street; that was certain. No windows open meant she couldn't get it that way, and she didn't see anything on the roof that looked like it might be an entrance. Well, at least it was a smart and safe police compound.

Just then from above her she heard the loud, roaring noise of an older helicopter. The shuttle landed on the Preventers roof, and from a trap door in the ceiling came a bunch of people. There was a stretcher, with a black body bag lying atop it. Instantly Serena knew whose body must be in the bag. Following it closely came three men, one she knew to be Zechs Marquise, Relena's brother, and two more dressed down in Preventer's uniforms. She also seemed to recognize the pilot, but couldn't quite remember his name or where she knew him from. Well, chances were that these were the elite Preventers… Wait! Lady Une herself had just stepped out from the trap door! It must have been the most elite then. Good! Maybe she wouldn't have to sneak into the building, she would follow them to their safe landing site and from there, well, she would just have to play it by ear.

When the chopper took off, Serena followed behind, making sure to stay as low to the rooftops as possible, so as not to attract any unwanted attention. She followed them for what seemed like forever until they finally got into the countryside. Stopping within the trees and bushes, Serena watched them land behind a gate with the initials W.M. And then she almost fell out of the tree when Duo Maxwell walked out onto the grass to greet the occupants of the copter.

"Okay, since when does Duo Maxwell know Relena Peacecraft and Lady Une? And… that helicopter pilot, that's Quatre Winner himself! Now I know where I've seen that face before! Incredible!" She shook her head as she whispered. Once the large group of people had all moved inside, Serena snuck over the gate and right up next to mansion, where she found an open window on the second floor and jumped in. Walking down the hall, she stopped, suddenly aware that voices were coming her way.

"I just can't believe she's gone. It's really hard to handle." A woman with dark, short hair and a raspy voice came into sight. With her was a taller blonde with cool slate eyes.

"I know. I feel terrible. Miss Relena always was a good friend to me, even when I tried to betray her during the first war. She stuck by me, forgave me, and now… everything she worked so hard for is gone. It's as if her death turned back the clock of time."

"Dorothy, Zechs cried for an hour after we left the conference hall. He just kept telling me how terrible it was to see his sister like that. And I was too choked up to say anything, but Relena was my sister too!"

"I know Lucy." The two women had not noticed her as they walked by, and were suddenly out of earshot. Serena gulped. These people, these weren't just Preventers. These had been Relena's closest friends and family. This was their mourning period, and she was interrupting it. Guilt ate at her stomach, and she suddenly felt nauseous.

Still, Serena followed the path the women had taken, careful to stay hidden in the shadows, and found that they had gone down a flight of stairs to the first floor. Quickly hopping the banister, she landed noiselessly on the marble floor, and stepped into the shadows. Lights were off in all but one room that she could see, so she slipped up beside the door to listen in. There was a lot of crying, but there were also some calm voices over all the hysterics.

"We need to figure out a way to stop the rioting and convince people that the world is not going to end because Relena is dead." A tall man with hair covering one of his eyes stated. Serena nodded. Yes, they did.

"We need to convince the colonies that it wasn't Earth that did it, and vice versus with Earth." Zechs added quietly. The dark woman whom she had overheard kissed him on his cheek, and Serena came to the conclusion that they were married, and that she had been Relena's sister-in-law.

"What we need to do right now is cry." One very bold woman with short dark hair and two twins in her lap held them tighter. Duo's wife? Must be.

"What you all need to do is let me think." And Serena stopped. That voice belonged to Hiiro Yui, the man she had met in the graveyard, the man who… "We can't let this anarchy go on much longer, it's chaos out there." Serena nearly fainted.

Just wanted to let you know, this chapter is going to be re-edited, but I thought I should put it up so you had something to read. I'm sorry it's such a bad chapter, but I have some good upcoming installments that should dazzle and amaze! -Vixen 


	9. Forming a Plan of Attack

Chapter Nine: Forming a Plan of Attack

Was that Hiiro Yui who was standing there, right in front of her, saying those very words? How utterly ironic that they should meet, and not three days later would such a critical situation bring them back together. Serena swallowed hard. As a matter of fact, this was too ironic for her. A burning itch began to naw at her heart, and her breaths became slow and ragged in her attempt to comprehend what this entire picture was telling her. As realization slowly dawned upon her, she found it more and more difficult to steady herself and pay attention to the conversation.

"Hiiro!" Duo stood and growled. "Now I'm not one to lose my temper, buddy, but if you say that chaos word one more time, I'm going to have to hurt you. You are taking that tombstone way too seriously. It was just a saying, just some epitaph on a headstone! It has nothing to do with the fact that Relena was killed, and it has nothing to do with that fact that there are now riots in the street!" Hiiro coughed lightly as Duo spoke, but narrowed his eyes.

"Wait a minute here… What are you two talking about?" Quatre asked in confusion.

"Hiiro had some bright idea to go to a church and ask a woman about translating something from a dead language called Latin. While we were on our way out, we went through a graveyard and tripped over a creepy gravestone with some saying about chaos. And ever since, he's bee talking about it non-stop." Duo explained quickly.

"Why did you care about some Latin phrase anyway Yui?" Wufei jumped in.

"Because some hot girl told it to him." Duo mumbled. Hiiro now glared fully at his braided companion and stood. Serena, on the other hand, blushed from the shadows. She hadn't been called hot, or cute, or _anything_ in a very long time. The compliment warmed her heart instantly, and she felt slightly light-headed. It was nice to know that even after all she had been through, men were still men, and humans still counted appearances as everything.

Hiiro, on the other hand, was far from agreeing with Duo. It had not been because of some hot girl! That was Duo's shallow side coming out, and the real reason was much deeper than any just some gorgeous girl telling him some weird phrase. Hiiro was torn between telling them the truth, and letting his comrades suffer wondering in silence. It wasn't in his nature to care what others thought of him, but in the case the situation was far more serious than they were taking it.

"Figures the Perfect Soldier would hit puberty just as the world collapses." Wufei snickered. Hiiro blinked a few times, and then quietly spoke.

"This situation has nothing to do with going to the church, nothing to do with Latin, and nothing to do with some girl." He glared. "Now then, I'm going to brief you on the situation. As far as I can tell, it seems the government is slowly being ripped apart by arguments on the inside and rioters on the outside. Relena was main figurehead keeping peace between the different organizations. The space colonies are currently claiming that the Earth Sphere is responsible for Relena's death because it happened while on the planet; while the Earth Sphere is claiming that the colonies are conspiring against them, and that is why they had Relena assassinated. Both are using it as ammunition and motive to mobilize troops. Local military police and Preventers have been trying to organize task forces to stop rioting in the streets, but due to the violent nature of the people have yet to make an impact. One of the major problems we are currently facing is that rioters are now targeting Preventers and military personnel especially, blaming them for Relena's death. Now we have two objectives: we need to put to rest the beginning military actions by both the space colonies and the Earth Sphere, and we need to bring back civil order. Are there any ideas?"

Each person looked around the room. The silence was nearly unbearable, and nervous ticks made the people twitchy and paranoid about each other. Finally Hiiro spoke again.

"Quatre. How can we stop the two governments from mobilizing troops against each other?" Quatre's blonde eyebrows rose, then lowered in confusion. Taking a deep breath, he carefully sized Hiiro up. Still, his coffee haired companion simply looked at him in expectation of a response.

"Hiiro!" Duo broke their heavy concentration. "Why did you ask Quatre something like that?"

"Because Quatre will know the answer." Trowa shushed Duo by laying a hand on his shoulder and pointing at Quatre, who inhaled one more large breath of air before opening his mouth to begin speaking.

"If I was going to stop the governments, it would have to be a two pronged-attack. Formally speaking, someone would have to take Relena's place as the figurehead of peace, someone that could negotiate between the two governments. We would also need to find the person responsible for Relena's death. There is no way we will convince either government to accept the other isn't responsible for Relena's death until we know the killer's motives. And even then… I hate to say it, but what if it was a conspiracy on one of the government's behalves? It could have been one maniac out for blood, it could be a new organization, or everyone's worst fears could come true and it really could turn out to be the colonies that sent in an assassin. The truth is, we don't know for sure, and we won't until the assassin is caught."

Quatre's voice was determined and loud, unusual for him. For some reason, when Hiiro had instructed him to think about what to do, he had felt empowered. It was as if the spotlight had been thrust upon him so suddenly; yet he knew exactly what to do when on stage. Had Hiiro been aware that he would know how to handle the situation? Part of it must have been that he knew the internal affairs of the governments quite well, but the other must have been intuition. Shaking his head, he sighed. Before Hiiro had asked him what to do, he had felt as though he were helpless. All of his thoughts had been jumbled, as if he just had too much on his mind to think clearly and form a solution. Yet having Hiiro turn the focus to him, and then narrowing the question of what to do had given him structure enough to think of what had to be done to restore peace.

"Two-pronged attack?" Trowa asked. "What's the other prong?" His voice brought Quatre out of his reverie and the blonde smiled.

"The second part will have to be done quietly. Sabotage. Frankly, it will take some time to find who did this. Even with every available Preventer working non-stop around the clock we won't find him for three to four days. There just isn't enough forensic evidence to find who did this. What we'll need to wait for is someone to claim responsibility for it. As terrible as it may seem, eventually whoever sent the assassin, if it was an organization or government, will want to make sure people know they were responsible for it. In the mean time, the two governments are not going to just hold off on moving weapons or soldiers into position. Even after the militaries were disbanded in both the space colonies and the Earth Sphere, people will still volunteer quickly to go back to war. There are still strong feelings of hate and fear between the institutions. People are still in a military mind-state, and while they stood up to Marimeia when she tried to take over, they are more susceptible to returning to their sides to fight old enemies. Our goal, in light of these two volunteer militaries, would be to stop them before they could get off the ground. Slow production of machines, intercept messages, hack into computers and delete information, that sort of thing. If we act quickly enough and hit the right targets we may even be able to delay them long enough so that no lives are lost. If we blow the bases up we'll be giving them more fuel for their propaganda, so we'll really need to be careful about not being noticed. So we'll hit them internally and externally, and hopefully that will be enough."

The atmosphere in the room had suddenly switched from mourning and depressing to productive. The people who had been crying had wiped tears away and were no longer sniffling. In fact, there was a determined grin about each person which had broken through despite the grim situation. Making plans to do something to stop their world from falling apart was the only thing that was left to do. Without their plans, each of them had a sinking feeling. They too might have fallen apart had Hiiro not forced Quatre to feed them ideas on how to fix the situation. Giving their minds a break from the pain had been the most therapeutic medicine any of them could have received at that moment.

"Alright. So we have an idea of what needs to be done to keep the governments from falling apart—what about the rioting? There are a lot of people who have been hurt in all of the protesting, not to mention the looting. When Relena's death was announced, people went crazy with anger. They smashed windows, threw things, set fire to places, and now the looters are out in the streets making it even worse. People aren't going to care what others think of them with the governments on the brink of war." Noin pointed out. "We need to do something to organize the people, but the Preventers are being and blamed for Relena's death! They can't be out there putting their lives at stake!"

"I think I have a plan for that too." Quatre stepped forward. "We'll need to set up a coalition specifically to help victims and civilians. We'll take the Preventers out of uniform and set them up in a place big enough that they can divide into different groups to take care of different problems. We'll need to begin with medical units for those who have been injured. And two search a rescue crews: one to go into neighborhoods where houses might have been hit, and one to go into the city office buildings and businesses to search for injured survivors. People will need a place to contact those who they are looking for, so we'll have to have volunteers collecting names of the missing and places where to reach family. We will need to find a way to shut off the gas lines—we can't afford to have any extra fires or leakages while people are going rampant. We also need groups looking at power distribution—there were outages last time I checked in at least two of the colonies—as well as people checking the water lines for pressure to make sure our firefighters can put out the existing fires. And crews to clear streets of debris so we can get our cars and ambulances through safely… did I miss anything do you think?"

"Did he?" Hilde asked, jaw dropped. "Wow Quatre, you really know what you're doing!" Her grin caught Quatre off guard, and he smiled shyly back, blushing lightly in the cheeks and unable to speak.

"The only problem I can foresee with his plan is that we'll need quite a few people to put it into action, and our communications lines are not strong enough to put us through to the people that can put everything into motion. We'll need to go back to the Preventer headquarters building and organize everyone to explain how to deal with this situation. And then we'll need to send them out. As far as manpower goes, will we have enough people to direct groups? These rescue centers Quatre is talking about will need to be set up not only in places like the Cinq Kingdom, but on every colony and every major city on Earth. The rioting and disasters are not only citywide, not only nationwide, not only worldwide: they're universal. We have to attack from every angle; can we assemble enough trustworthy help?" Lady Une chimed in.

Knowing the Preventers quite well would mean she would be the one heading up the task forces, and she might as well let everyone know now that it would be hard to find people to put their plan into motion. Even finding mechanics to help them reload their Gundams with fuel and ammunition would be complicated; let alone organizing something as massive as a universal first aid committee. Pulling her long hair back behind her head, Une felt everyone's eyes on her as she braided her locks into a thick braid and then pinned it in a bun at the back of her head. Once she finished, her gaze caught Wufei's eyes, and he narrowed them and dropped his head in agreement.

"She's right." He began. "The manpower is going to be hard to come up with. Not to mention the communication is a problem in more than one respect. If we're going to sabotage the satellites so that the two governments can't fight against each other, we won't be able to use them either. A message system will have to be set up. And coordination between the Earth and the colonies will be next to impossible.

"Plus, trying to place a new person in Relena's shoes would take mass communication to the public in both the colonies and the Earth Sphere, just to alert the people about who the new person is. Not to mention we would have to basically market that person to both sides, even after we put them into power. And how would we get the two warring governments to agree on a person? It would have to be someone from both the Earth Sphere and the colonies, because only someone from both sides could be trusted. Who do we know that would be able to pull something like that off?" Wufei finished bluntly stating his concerns with the flaws in Quatre's planning.

"Maybe there isn't a good person to take Relena's place. Maybe that's a bad idea—people might get angry if we try to replace her too quickly." Trowa thoughtfully wondered aloud.

"Then what we need is someone Relena would have condoned. I think the plan is a good one, and that there must be some way to work out the communications and manpower problems. I think that Quatre hit the situation dead on." Dorothy nodded.

"The better question is not who we should send, but who can we afford to send?" Face it, we are the only group in the Earth Sphere and the space colonies that knows the entire situation." Everyone's heads had turned to give Sally their full attention. Her words had caught them off-guard. She noted that she had earned their undivided attention and continued.

"Neither of the governments have been communicating about problems within themselves, they've only issued statements of accusation. With the two governments blaming each other, with the possibility of a new underground organization as a threat, with no communication between the public about the situation, we'll have our hands full trying to fix everything. Anyone that is here right now is privy to information that no one else in the universe has, and in light of that we need to focus on who can do the best in each position." Sally finished and gasped for a breath of air.

"I nominate Quatre." Duo spoke up. "Think about it, Quatre can orchestrate everything that needs to be done for the civilians if he has the backing of the governments. He already knows what has to be done to stop all of the rioting and looting, not to mention everyone has already heard about him. He's good with politicians—heck that's what he does for a living! Oh, and he's from space and Earth. It's perfect. We'll have a contact inside politics as well as one who can slip us tactical information from a military standpoint about both governments. If you take Relena's position, Quatre, those governments are required to disclose to you all their information about their military status, right? It's perfect."

Quatre blushed a rosy red in his cheeks as Duo made his suggestion. It wasn't the most eloquent of speeches ever made to nominate him for a position, but it was one of the most touching he had ever heard. Knowing someone like Duo held him in that high of respect gave him a sense of pride. It was good to know he was doing something decent enough in life now to make up for his past actions. Hiiro shook his head.

"Quatre is the obvious choice." He paused, letting his glance Quatre up and down before he continued. "He would be a good candidate—too good. His involvement in the government with Relena would lead to suspicion about his part in the plot." Hiiro paused as his ears heard the small gasps elicited at his words.

"Not to mention we'll need you from a tactical standpoint coordinating resource satellites; we can't afford you to that position."

"Are you suggesting that Quatre did this?" Catherine clipped, not choosing to hear the rest of Hiiro's words—only that he had made an unconscious accusation against the blonde Arabian. Stepping in closer to Quatre, her arm snaked around his and she narrowed her eyes.

"Never." Hearing the one word from Hiiro's mouth had more weight than it might have coming from anyone else. "I'm saying it will appear that way to those who are 'not privy to our information', as Sally says. Zechs will take Relena's place as referee between the governments. As Milliardo Peacecraft."

"What?" Zechs squeaked.

I know, I know, I havne't updated for a year! I'm so sorry guys! It's been a long boutof writer's block and how I want this story to fall into place. I guess while I was really excited to be writing my other new fic, "Double Standard", I became wrapped up in numbers of reviews and frankly, I was a little baby about how I wasn't getting enough. Lol, I'm back! I decided that I was being stupid and silly, and am trying to make ammends by finishing this fic! I'm going to finish the other one too, as part of a punishment to myself for having such a crappy idea in the first place, but I wanted to get this chapter up first for all of you! Much love, Vixen--


	10. Everything Left to Give

Chapter Eleven: Everything Left to Give

Standing and waiting patiently had never been one of Serena's strong points. She was impatient and ready for action—but she knew it would be foolish to rush head on into the scuffle at this point in time. She still had no idea where Chaos was currently hiding, or how to stop her when she did find her. However, it was through sheer luck, she knew, that Serena found herself hidden and listening to the conversation between Relena Peacecraft's staff and advisors. These people were intelligent human beings who understood fully the implications of everything that had occurred.

Listening to them speak with such hope about the future caused pride to well up within Serena's heart. It was so refreshing to meet people who took the time and responsibility to care about others before themselves. In fact, it was amazing that in the midst of the utter collapse of their entire infrastructure, they were still optimistic about rebuilding it. A single tear dropped gracefully from Serena's eye as she slowly blinked. These people, this group… she was reminded very much of a time when she had not been alone in her struggle to fight the demons that haunted the world.

"Alright, now that we have Zech's agreement to work the government from the public perspective, we need to find out exactly what is going on out there right now." Sally looked around the room.

Their committee to determine how to deal with the collapsing governments had convened well over an hour ago. Since the beginning, people were becoming more relaxed. The room itself was made for comfortable social gatherings, as evident by the inviting décor. The large circular room had dark wood paneling halfway up the walls, and where the paneling left off a warm tan paint took over, enclosing the space snugly. Large tan and brown oriental carpets covered a dark hardwood floor, and the deep mahogany color of the floors was accented in the brown leather sofas. Red throw pillows littered the floor around the antique tables that were interspersed throughout the room. While the focus of the room drew attention to the large and ornately carved fireplace and mantel; armchairs had been set up on either side of the room, separating space.

Zechs, who had just lost a battle over whether or not he would be a peace figurehead or a fighter, was grumbling to himself while standing by the fireplace in the room. Noin stood with her hands resting gently on his shoulders, and every once in a while she would begin to lightly massage his tense shoulders and neck. Lady Une had picked to stand near the other end of the fireplace, taking notes as they spoke. Trowa and Quatre had been sitting on one of the large leather couches, facing Wufei and Duo, who were sitting in the couch across the coffee table from them. The coffee table, once dusty from disuse, was now covered in schematics, lists of politicians, and tactical plans. Dorothy and Catherine, both worried more about their friends than they were about the situation outside their walls, were resting in the armchairs that had been set up on the right side of the room. Sally stood behind Wufei as he leaned forward and pointed to points on a map, second guessing her partner's calculations.

"Look, its not going to be easy." Quatre's words broke the concentration throughout the room, and full attention was directed to his staunch face and tight shoulders. "Zechs, we need to have you out there as soon as possible, you'll be the one who will have the best luck in settling people's fears right now. Seeing that another Peacecraft still lives will help to give hope to people—and at the same time those stubborn politicians will start to sweat. They know there could be more of an effort on their part to make peace, but, and I hate to say it, prejudices between the Earth and colonies are harder to fight against than we realize. It will take generations to wipe this sort of hatred out, and we only have hours, if that." The room was full of agreement; nods of affirmation came from all corners as Zechs stood up.

"Then I had better get out there as soon as I can—Lu?" He turned to his wife with a questioning look on his face. She smiled.

"I've been thinking. Lady Une can stay here with Sally, Wufei, and the rest to coordinate the Preventers from this safe location. They don't need me right now—I'll go with you—to watch your back. If Relena, who had the most impressive security detailing I've ever seen, was shot, I don't even want to consider what might happen to you. And don't make that face!" She finished with a quick snap. The way Zech's face had fallen into utter disbelief as she had volunteered to be his bodyguard was priceless! It was good to know some things might always stay the same—she loved her husband for exactly who he was.

"I wasn't making a face…" Zechs turned his head into the shadows slightly and sulked. How _did_ she always know him so well? Well, maybe he _had_ made a face—or two at her words. But it was only because he knew he would be fine, and simply didn't wish to put his wife at harm. She was the only family he had left now, and he was going to cherish it as much as possible.

"With Zechs and Noin busy, that leaves Une to coordinate the Preventers." Trowa redirected everyone's thoughts to the events at hand. The tall, slender boy stood beside the fireplace now, at the focal point of the room. "Lady, we'll need massive coordination—a faction to help keep the peace, a faction to help those who are in need of medical or other assistance, and one to send into the field—we need to stop the looting and rioting."

"Its more than that." Quatre cut in. "We need to expand and put factions in the colonies too. That's just another place for unrest to grow and people to begin their own uprisings."

"We can't do that." Hiiro stepped up from the cobwebbed corner of the room and glared at Quatre. "Think Quatre. If we put Preventers there, we're no better than our predecessors. We cannot keep peace with the Preventers, they will only become targets for civilian hellions to shoot at and pick on; not to mention their purpose was specifically designed for this reason. We don't want soldiers! We need _Preventers_—or men who will use more peaceful ways to subdue the people. The reason we fought our wars was to stop the totalitarian and military oppression we were suffering—let's not revisit that moment in our pathetic human history."

"He's right." Lady Une nodded. "But there are solutions. You all know as well as the public that we've invested millions into new research and development of non-fatal weapons, and that's how I think we'll handle this situation. I do not want one single Preventer roaming around on those streets with a real gun. Not one live round of ammunition, nothing. The newest technology we have will be put to helping soldiers keep peace without taking lives. The idea is for people to gain control of themselves, not just for us to force control." As Une spoke, her voice became more and more reassured. It seemed talking about solving the issue was being productive on two levels: one was the actual progress that was being made on how to deal with their situation; two she was relaxing from her shaken sorrow for her dead pacifist leader.

"Sounds like a great idea Une!" Catherine nodded. "I hated the idea that armed soldiers were going to be keeping peace, as a civilian." It was the only input her advice was good for—she was the only real civilian in the room.

"Right. Well, in regards to the communications problems." Wufei briskly cut off the women. His narrowed eyes barely noticed the dirty look Catherine shot her way—but they did catch Trowa reaching down to squeeze her hand. "This is no time to be weak and debate over what to do, we need to take action, and soon. Sally and I will…"

"No Wufei." Sally stopped him. "I can't actually go with you. I need to stay here on Earth." The cheerful female doctor perked up when her name had been said. "I have to begin setting up crisis centers—Une will be indoors, dealing with paperwork. I'm the field agent who will be in charge of actual centers. And my medical skills are needed here more anyway. You have this mission to yourself." Wufei nodded grimly, understanding his woman's words. She was needed more here than with him, this was no time to be selfish.

"Okay. Then my job will be to take care of this communications problem. I'm going to get up into space and look at that string of satellites that are out."

"Time out!" Duo broke the serious speech up with his ever-melodic and cheerful voice. "Didn't anyone stop to wonder anything about what's going on out there?"

"We know what's going on you braided idiot! Riots, Relena's death, and more riots! What more do you need to know!" Wufei yelled, smacking Duo upside his head. The God of Death shot his best evil glare back.

"I meant, doesn't seem strange that everyone is so worked up over Relena's death? When a great leader passes away, even when they're assassinated, the public mourns. There is grief, and people hold vigils and prayer services honoring that person. People aren't doing that this time. Why? What's different about Relena? She was peaceful in life; you'd think people would be peaceful about her death, respecting her last wishes. Doesn't that seem just a little strange to you? Just saying…" Duo stood his ground, but held his girlfriend Hilde's hand just a little tighter. As the fire flickered in the dark room, the orange flames hypnotized the occupants for a few long moments of silence. No one said anything, thinking quietly over Duo's questioning words.

"But why else would people act this way? They already have fear of each other… even with the President of the ESUN trying to comfort people and tell them things will be alright, no one wants to trust in the government any more. It's become the mentality of anarchy—without a hierarchy with Relena as the head figure piece people have gone wild. And with their fear fueling them—I'm afraid we'll only see this get worse before it gets better." Quatre spoke quietly, voice no louder than a hoarse whisper. Around the room he slowly got nods from the rest of his co-pilots, and Duo shrugged.

"Alright. Just saying…"

"Well then don't say idiot!" Wufei scoffed. Duo sighed and dropped his fight for once. He was too tired to get into a fight with Wufei right now.

"Don't fight guys!" Hilde sighed aloud. "Enough is enough. Let's get to work, huh? There's no time to waste!" The mood was suddenly broken, and the once orange flames now seemed to shine a whiter, and more brilliant light. The twelve people in the room looked around at each other and flashed quick smiles and grins before they went into action.

Crossing the room to the door, Zechs turned just before his nose hit the carved wood. "Lu? You ready?"

"Yes, let's go. Une you should really come with us too right now. We'll go back to the Partnership Building and see if we can't hold an emergency press conference to speak to the public. At that time you can explain the safe, and emphasize the safe part, Preventer plan that we're going to put into effect. That way people will feel informed, and the Preventers will be known as helpful rather than threatening right away." Lucretia's bangs shook into her eyes, and she pushed them back with her calloused hand, keeping her eyes trained on Une for her response.

"Right, and then I'll need to head over to the Preventers Headquarters, to pick up the personnel lists and organize people. I would rather do it here, but I just realized there might be a flaw with that idea—we want to use the Preventers? Well they are all at the Preventers Headquarters already, I might as well stay there to keep them organized."

"Then I'm going with you—you'll need someone else to help keep order there—we still have an assassin on the loose, I think we're all forgetting." Trowa jumped in before another word was said.

"I'll take care of that." Hiiro's monotone voice ripped through the air like a dull knife popping a balloon. Totally unexpected. And yet… not a single person was going to say anything to stop him.

"I'll still go with you as a precaution." Trowa nodded, still looking at Hiiro's stone old facial expression. If his face had so much as flinched since they had first heard the news about Relena, he would do back flips for a week.

"Okay." Une nodded and she and Trowa headed for the door as well.

"Quatre—you should head up to the colonies and do some damage control up there. People are not happy up there either—I think we're forgetting the colonies, something I think will be our downfall if we're not careful." Trowa added one last piece of advice before he grabbed the door handle and beat Zechs as the first person to leave their powwow. "Catherine—" He stopped dead in his tracks.

"I'll be fine Trowa. I'll probably stay here and organize Relena's funeral arrangements. Some one needs to, and since I can't fight, I'll do what I can." Lips tight, she caught Trowa's eyes. Briefly for a moment she thought she saw in his jade eyes what was reminiscent of pride and concern… but he turned his head took quickly for her to read him any deeper. Her heart thumped in her chest harder, and her eyes felt the pin pricks of hot tears painfully being held back.

"Sounds good." Were his last words before his tall, lean form disappeared into the hallway outside the door. Zechs followed next with a nod back to everyone, and Lucretia and Une followed in suit. When the four were completely out of sight, Sally bolted up.

"Shit! I was supposed to go with them—I need to get messages out to people about where to go and what they'll find at first aid centers!" Her twin blonde braids flipped around her as she spun first towards the door, then back to the crowd. Her eyes landed on a shorter Asian man whose face was twisted, as if he had just bit into a lemon.

"Idiot woman." Were the words that dripped from his sarcastic mouth; but his lips soon down-turned to a frown, and his eyes softened. "Be careful woman." And his heart melted with her grin.

"You too, Wufei." She gave him a small laugh, and he sneered in embarrassment. Satisfied with the response she had gotten, Sally turned back around and left the room running, trying to catch up to the other four that already had a head start.

"Well, I guess Wufei and I will both need shuttles—"

"Excuse me, don't think you're going to leave me behind Quatre. I know as much about being a diplomat as you do, not to mention I know how the Earth people feel. It would be towards your benefit to take me with you, to balance the bias in the colonies." Dorothy shot up and cut Quatre off. "Besides. You're too nice—you need someone to give you a backbone against these colonists, you don't understand the dirty tricks of politics." Quatre became very red in his face, and soon the blush traveled to her ears. Beat red, he stammered for a moment, before he sighed.

"Well, I could use someone who's been in politics longer than me. But Dorothy, we're going to space to make those people feel as though they are still being represented and heard within the ESUN. We can't begin fights with their delegates, senators, or congressmen, it won't go over well." Dorothy seemed to take a moment to debate this, then nodded and her shoulders fell a little.

"Very well. But we had better get going soon, if that's our objective, then our news broadcast had better be close to Zechs', otherwise they'll think we're only humoring them."

"Great point!" Quatre said as relief washed over him. He knew how difficult Dorothy's stubborn pride could be sometimes, and was glad he hadn't offended her with his suggestion. "Wufei, are you ready?"

"Wait, what am I doing to help? Man, I need something to do!" Duo suddenly cried out. Because he had sat down after his small addition to the conversation earlier, he had been overlooked.

As he stood, Hilde stepped close to his side, and took hold of his arm. Duo's serious face was rare, and Quatre and Wufei looked at him knowing that they needed to give him something to help with. As Wufei began to open his mouth, the heavy mahogany door to the sitting room was thrown open, and two little figures came flying in from the hallway.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" They screamed in unison. The girls were followed in by a heavily huffing large man with a slat and pepper beard and stressed, leather skin. Wrinkles around the man's eyes gave away his age, but the muscles that he hid beneath his shirt told of his experience and occupation.

"Master Quatre!" The older man rasped.

"We just arrived from the outer Cinq Kingdom, from the Reconstructed Palace, with an update worth hearing!" His voice was not that of an excited man—instead he seemed distraught and upset.

"Rashid, what is it?" Quatre's face twitched into a terrible, contorted arrangement.

"Monster! There are monsters out there!" The older man's face had broken into a sweat long ago, and now he finally took the time to wipe his brow with the back of his hand. Almost falling rather then sitting onto one of the armchairs, he swung his upper body around to point to a map lying forgotten on the coffee table. "When I was sent to pick up the twins! Here, this is where I saw it! Picking up people, biting limbs off and throwing them for fun! The Palace is a wreck; some of the new walls have been completely demolished. This thing… I've never seen anything like it!"

"Rashid, slow down! Are you sure this wasn't some type of new mobile suit? Not a machine?" Quatre gently laid his hand on Rashid's large shoulder. The older man just shook his head.

"There is no way…"

"Monsters!" The two little girls were whispering over and over again, wrapped up tightly in Hilde's petite arms. Their tear-streaked faces ripped at Quatre's heart. Duo, too, had noticed his two little girls' horrified expressions, and had bent down before them. Taking one of his hands, Duo carefully used his rough thumb to brush the tears away from his daughters' eyes.

"You two know monsters don't exist!" Hilde whispered to them. But the tears kept falling from their twin pairs of eyes.

"Alright girls." Duo's voice was dark. "I promise I will get those monsters. I promise. I'll get them good, for you two. How about that? I'll go get them. Daddy'll stop the monsters." Standing, Duo turned back to Quatre.

"Never mind, I'll deal with this." The blonde boy could only nod as he watched his comrade, the once happy-go-lucky God of Death hug his family. Who was he to argue with that?

"Good, now that everyone's figured out what they need to get done, let's go!" Wufei, who was trying to avoid watching Duo with his family, grabbed Quatre's shirt and began to pull at him. Quatre went willingly, and Dorothy followed without saying anything.

"Good luck Duo!" Quatre finally gave a firm nod of finality, then pulled himself away from Wufei's hold. "Rashid, we're going to space. Please, remain here with Hilde and her children, and Catherine. They'll be organizing Relena's funeral, please help them with whatever they need."

"Of course Mater Quatre." The older man bowed deeply from the waist, then turned back to Catherine, Hilde, and the girls. "I will do what I can to assist you. Please be careful Master Quatre."

"We will." Quatre waved a quick goodbye to the others in the room, then he and the other two took off much in the same way the first group had left.

"Duo, let's move." Hiiro, a forgotten soul left hidden in the last dark corner of the room, finally made his move to exit the building. The few people left in the room gasped and all eyes found there way to Hiiro's dark form. Duo gulped.

"I have to first read over the autopsy they've done on Relena, then I'll give you a lift towards your part of town." Were his only words in response to the gasping.

"Will it take long?" Duo began to pace towards the last pilot left in the room. His answer was a glare, and the braided boy let out a snort. "Figures, nothing you would do would ever take too long. Let's go."

Before Duo left, he turned back to Hilde one last time. "Be careful." Kissing her lightly on the forehead, he then reached down to take hold of the two little hands being offered to him. "Girls, listen to your mom and Aunt Catherine and Uncle Rashid." Nods followed, but the thumbs that had been lodged in the twins' mouth didn't appear to be coming out any soon, even to say goodbye. With that, Duo turned and he and Hiiro were the last to walk down the corridor to do what they could to regain their peaceful lifestyles.

Lol, been a while, huh? Well, if you're back after this long thanks for coming back to see me, and if you're new and this is your first taste of my fanfiction, what up! –Vixen


	11. The Human Race

Chapter Twelve: The Human Race 

"Monsters?" From the shadows of the hall just outside the room, Serena stepped from the shadows, her chest heaving in horror. Her nose tingled, and her eyes burned before she could take a deep enough breath to fully let everything sink in. It seemed as though these Preventers had most every situation world and space-wide covered, yet the pit of her stomach begged to differ. And now monsters?

Fine! Bring it on! Serena stood to her full height and drew in a determined breath. She had been fighting monsters for many years… monsters of her own making. Now it seemed that Chaos had created monsters… well, if she could fight her own then she would fight Chaos' as well. Running her white-gloved hand over her smooth stomach trying to swallow away the brick that had settled within her, Serena found herself nodding with determination and looking toward the window down the hall. The lush green of the gardens below hinted that it would be the perfect place to leap outside and begin her search for the demons that were terrorizing these people.

Racing to the window, she carefully unlatched the hinges and swung it open. Hoisting herself up onto the windowsill, she gracefully spied a tree branch not to far away and made a precocious leap towards her goal. Landing without flaw, she thanked the many years of training she had forced herself to endure—or that had given her something to do during the many years of penance she had been working through. Either way, she then dropped to the ground and closed her eyes. Gathering her thoughts, she snapped inside, feeling the dark energy radiating from somewhere close by. And then…

"Ahh!" She knew the voice behind that scream— Duo! Racing toward the origin of the sound Serena found herself face to face with a horrific sight. Duo had been thrown roughly against the side of the house, his face battered and swollen with thin trickles of blood seeping down into his right eye from a gash in his forehead. Worse still, the perpetrator, a seven foot tall blue woman with green scales from her legs to her neck, that fanned out like the hood of a cobra was standing mere feet from his prone body about to inject him with more of her dripping poisonous fangs. Serena heard Hiiro empty an entire clip into the lizard-like woman as she snuck around the wall carefully toward Duo. Serena thanked her lucky stars that he was distracting the villainous demon long enough to pull Duo around the corner of the house and lean him up against the perpendicular stucco wall. 

Hiiro had hardly had any time to react when he and Duo had first arrived on the scene. Duo's jaw had dropped in sheer disbelief that a true monster stood before their eyes, and Hiiro had simply pushed unbelieving thoughts from his head—this was just like any situation, no matter how improbable it had once been. The reptile woman wasted no time in beginning her onslaught of the innocent humans she was presented with. As she began shooting fang-like projectiles from nowhere at his comrade the supposed God of Death, Hiiro had let his trained eye begin searching for a weakness—anything to take it down. Nothing… its skin was rough and scaly, its body in the shape of a seven-foot woman was intimidating in size itself. Still, there had to be some weakness, any… Hiiro allowed his gaze to be pulled from the monster and to Duo, who had been pegged against the wall by the exotic weaponry his adversary possessed. 

Without getting any closer, the woman-snake let out a loud hissing screech and her ripped bicep drove her fist downward, slamming straight to the grassy ground and sending a shockwave rippling out in all directions. He jumped almost on instinct, yet Duo had not been as lucky. Taking the full brunt of the stress-pounding groundswell, he groaned and his inert body slumped to the ground. Narrowing his eyes in a strange feeling of anger, Hiiro whipped his gun out and began to blast round after round of lead into the creature's jeering sounds. He never noticed Duo's body being dragged around the corner to safety as he had little time to think ducking and dodging the next round or strange fang-like ammunition being hurled at him. Amazed that the large beast was so quick and agile, he swore under his breath and paused to regain his balance.

"Shit!" Was the only audible grunt her ears perked up hearing over the hissing and growling of the monster. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she peaked around the corner to survey the scene. Her worst fears were alleviated when her cerulean eyes locked onto Hiiro's still standing form—though her instinct told her it would not take much more before he too was in Duo's grave situation. Nodding to herself in self-affirmation, Serena stood from kneeling beside Duo's unconscious form and with the tips of her index finger and thumb grasped hold of the red ruby that sparked within her golden tiara. 

"Moon tiara magic!" Serena whispered loudly as she gracefully flung the glowing disk directly through the neck of Hiiro's would-be assailant. For a moment the world felt as though moments were passing by in slow-motion—the neck of the severed reptilian beast sprayed a large volume of green bile before it slid from its fixated position and then toppled to the ground and rolled several feet away. The womanly form the creature had once boasted so threateningly over the two humans it had been attacking crumpled to the ground and began to dissolve, bubbling and boiling over like Alka-Seltzer hitting purple water. The flying gold orb boomeranged back to its owner and resituated itself across her flushed porcelain forehead. She watched in grim satisfaction as her job well done hadn't cost her much time or effort—and shivered. Why had that been so damn easy?

Hiiro blinked. And he blinked again. He had seen the glowing disk come from in front of him, but not seen the origin of the advanced light weapon. All he could do was watch in relief as the once threatening beast had its neck sliced into two. Avoiding the green spray of acidic blood, he waited for the disintegrating body to begin to convulse before he looked once more over to check on Duo. Following the blood trail his eyes told him Duo had been able to drag himself out of harms way and around the corner. It must have been his comrade who had figured out how to defeat the menacing beast. Stepping up to the cobra-hooded purple head of the fallen beast, he emptied one final shot straight between its eyes for good measure. Without warning the reptile's lifeless eyes flared open and an eardrum-shattering scream echoed throughout the air.

"An outpouring of the evil spirit among humanity will manifest itself as their greatest fears— famine, plague, war and death await the human race!" She hissed her last words. Hiiro fired without thought, and the head lay silent once more. Standing quietly for another long moment his dark eyes trained on the enemy's head, Hiiro finally assured himself the monster really had been taken care of and internally gave a sigh of relief. Without another word he moved on, in search of Duo and the answers to his "how" questions. 

Serena, Sailor Moon, had long since stepped away from Duo's body and had nestled herself in the crook of a tree by the time Hiiro came looking for his comrade. Yet her concern over her two new friend's safety was currently the last thing from her mind. This had not been a real monster. It had simply been a messenger. Grimly staring at the remained of the sticky purple ooze covering the brown grass below it, her heart sank into the pit of her stomach. Now she had a firm grip on not simply what Chaos was planning on doing, but her detailed systematic plan to self-destruct the human race. She needed to quickly regroup and devise a strategy for handling the impending tragedy that Chaos was about to set loose upon the world. Determined, Sailor Moon stood from her cocooned position and set her jaw to a decisive mode. Swiveling around, her silver pigtails flicking behind her, she quickly paced herself leaping tree branch to tree branch on her way.

"Get up Duo." Hiiro's voice was the last sound she heard in the far-reaching distance. 

Hiiro had stumbled upon a passed-out God of Death when he had turned the corner of the house. Duo didn't seem gravely injured, but the whitewashed stucco wall behind where his head rested told the story of why he was still immobile. Stained with a patch of dark red blood Hiiro knew the shockwave had kept Duo unconscious since he had been struck. Yet there was no time for his mind to puzzle out how the monster had been killed by Duo when he had laid comatose during the battle. He heaved the braided man up over his shoulder and carried him brusquely back toward the entrance of the house. 

As he entered Quatre's friend and faithful servant Rashid took the limp body from him without a word. Hiiro watched as he carried Duo toward the large spiraling staircase—as his gaze continued upward he inwardly grimaced as he saw a tearful Hilde at the top of the stairs. Silently leaking salt drops made their way down her bright red cheeks and her hand covered her mouth in horror that she might say something her children would overhear. In the background he could barely make out his favorite children asking to see their father, and their Auntie Catherine telling them he was sleepy from fighting and would see them later. Darkly turning back around, Hiiro stumbled out the front door and back to the scene of the fight. 

No body was left. None of the advanced weaponry the monster had thrown at them was still around. His bullet casings were below where he had fired, and all that remained to tell the story of the battle was a brown patch in the middle of an otherwise green lawn. Frowning visibly, Hiiro struggled to come to terms with the days events. Relena was gone. The world was ripping apart at its seams. A monster had attacked them—how it had gotten there, what it really was, who had sent it, why they had sent it, all still a mystery. Who had killed it was an even deeper concern. And Duo was lying in a bed unconscious. This was not what he had fought so valiantly for for so long. This was not the peace he had sacrificed his humanity to obtain for all others. This was complete turmoil… he would not tolerate it. Back to square one: his current task was to find out how Relena had died and who had done it. He could worry about the monsters later. For now, he would go to find Relena's autopsy reports. 

)(

"Good afternoon everyone, my name is Terri Jenkins,"

"And I'm Diane Wilcox,"

"And this is your two o'clock news brief." The man and woman finished together. 

"This afternoon we're going to be listening in to Relena Peacecraft's respected brother, none other that Zechs Marquise himself." Diane chirped in great excitement.

"This speech is the first of what the Preventers are entitling: Operation Civilian Peacekeeping. We are expecting to hear from the former General himself what the Preventers intend to do for the people of both the Earth and the Colonies. Rumors have been circulating that Vice Foreign Minister Peacecraft's assassination attempt by a number of different factions, all with the same goal of destroying peace in mind." Terri quipped in.

"Today we are hoping to get the first real idea of which faction, be it Earth, Colony, or other is responsible for the Vice Foreign Minister's death, as well as the subsequent riots and hostilities taken by each opposing faction. The members of the ESUN are gathered at the Space Needle in Brussels, the former location of the Presidential Palace that the Gundam Wing Zero decimated only two years ago." Diane paused briefly in her speech, then cleared her throat and began once more: "ladies and gentlemen, Zechs Marquise is about to speak, let's turn our attention over to the live press conference." She hushed and the cameras panned toward a striking figure taking the podium. 

Zechs took a deep breath and looked gratefully to Noin for her last minute show of support through squeezing his hand tightly. Then she let it go, and he stepped onto the stage. Camera lights flashed, a helicopter buzzed over his head trying to capture all angles. Reporters sat in special chairs that were set in a semi-circle around the stage right in front; and behind them sat the entire ESUN counsel within their respective seats. The men and women of the counsel looked sallow and withdrawn. None of them had on their usual pressed shirts or sports coats. The women, he noted, had not been as meticulous as usual about throwing their hair up into fancy up-dos… he even logged that many had runs in their stockings and slips in disarray beneath their fancy skirt suites. 

He himself did not feel as on the ball either. His normally gray military outfit decorated with his hard-earned medals had been replaced with a more delegate friendly and mourning appropriate black suite. His silver hair, which usually hung down completely, was pulled back into a half-up ponytail, and his crisp demeanor had been—at his hardest attempt anyway—replaced with a respectful softness he was uncomfortable with. It was time for him to look the part of a delegate, the part of a Peacecraft. Standing before the microphone-covered podium, he surveyed his crowd, and then took a deep breath.

"Hello, and thank you for coming. May I please request first a moment of silence in honor of my sister, Vice Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft." It was really more a statement than a question, and it was customary more than efficient. He bowed his head and watched out of the corner of his eye as everyone in the room did the same. Once what he felt was a fitting amount of time had passed, he raised his head and cleared his throat, signaling to the other people in the room they too were allowed to lift their heads.

"Thank you. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Milliardo Peacecraft, formerly known to most as Zechs Marquise. I have come here today to try to answer what questions I can regarding my sister's untimely passing; as well as to try to bridge the gap that has so dangerously been severed between Earth and Space. My sister, Relena, worked and devoted her entire life to bringing peace to this world we live in. She believed in talk and action, and always that force was not the best and first action to take to correct problems or discontent. I too, as a Peacecraft, admire the ways of pacifists and though I have contributed my share to the war efforts of old have now tried to find my own peace through my sister's enlightened advice. As I stand here today, I am doing what I have always dreaded: trying to explain her death to you." He took a deep breath. 

"We are still looking into the death of the Vice Foreign Minister, however as I have been mourning for my sister I cannot help but mourn for humanity. Both Earth and Space alike have drifted into total chaos since her death, which is the last thing she would have ever wanted to see. I am here to try to put some fears aside. The people of Earth do not want to take part in more battles. The people of the colonies are tired of fighting wars. Both sides are war-sick. And yet both sides fear each other so much that they are trying to mobilize every force they can to feel as though they are protected." 

As Zechs continued, his voice gained strength and momentum. "Relena is rolling in her grave as we speak! Instead of raising two separate factions to protect ourselves, to pit against each other as whoever is responsible planned, she would want us to fight by turning the other cheek! Relena would have advocated that in this time of need and fear we need to united more than ever, seek comfort, safety and protection in the shared ideal that we are tired of fighting. Tired of battles. Tired of war, tired of death. We need to, for our future's sake and the sake of future generations.

"Let's not let Relena's death be the beginning of yet another war—let's use this event to set an example that we have broken the cycle! I am here, putting down my uniform and picking up the Peacecraft name to try to bring back the goodwill the Earth and Colonies had for each other. Help me help you, help me help yourselves!

"The Preventers are here, waiting to pick up and give aid out to those, any and all, who seek it. They are afraid to step forward, these good men and women who have donated their lives to 'preventing' another war. They are not here to enforce rules and never have been. The Preventer organization itself is here to help victims and civilians in times of crisis just as this. I will be remaining here with the ESUN counsel while we try to restrengthen the treaty between Earth and Space; but I encourage those who need help to seek it out. The Preventers will be setting up a massively coordinated aid effort, both here on Earth and in the colonies. Those who have been caught in the rioting and raids are welcome to come and receive medical treatment, get food, water, blankets, and clothing, or come to seek shelter in an open and inviting environment. There will be no lethal weapons within one hundred feet of any of the Preventer aid centers, in a show of goodwill toward all who are simply seeking shelter, safety and protection. 

"This is how the Preventers were intended to be used. This is how my sister, Vice Foreign Minister Peacecraft, would have responded if she were here today. Since she is not, let's make her proud. Let's lay her to rest in a unified and at ease with how she left us able to stand up for ourselves and break the cycle of violence. Thank you very much." His breathing stilled for a moment as he drank in the bliss of being done with this hypocritical speech he was giving. Now that he had become the one person he had always tried to avoid in life, he could not go back. Only forward. Deep breath in, exhale. As he exhaled, the press went crazy shouting questions, comments, and accusations in the zoo of a room. 

"Zechs, Zechs, who killed Relena?"

"Did she die of a gunshot wound? Where?"

"How can you preach peace when you yourself are a General?"

"Milliardo Peacecraft, are the Preventers paying you under the table to promote them in a positive light?"

"What's your view on…" That was enough. Zechs turned around and silently crept off the stage. Noin was there to greet him behind the curtains.

"You're a wonderful public speaker. I think you really got the message through to the delegates." She reached her right arm out and rubbed his left arm in calm support. He looked into the amethyst eyes of the woman he loved and gave her a half-hearted thin-lipped smile.

"Thanks Noin. The press doesn't sound as though they're going to spin it in a positive light…"

"That's why we're counting on Wufei to arrange a problem with the communications satellites." She smirked back at him. "Remember, we have a contingency plan courtesy of Quatre." He grinned back at her haphazardly.

"If he can create problems quickly enough to stop news from spreading too far via the press's outlets. And hopefully no communications doesn't backlash into something worse if people have no incoming source of news… Anyway. Noin, barton went up to L3, Chang will be on L5 shortly, Winner's on L4, would you head up to L1 and be the Chief of the Preventer's unit there? Maxwell is supposed to get there when he's finished with Yui. We need someone we can trust up there, and I'm going to be busy here in meetings with delegates…" She gave him a proud smile, which lit her eyes up and made shivers run down his spine.

"Of course. Once a Preventer always a Preventer, it's in my blood. Please be careful here though."

"Of course. Once a General always a General, even if they took my uniform away from me." He smirked. His deep and husky voice with those piercing icy eyes made her blush as she laughed at him. A quick kiss on the corner of his mouth and she wisped away into the shadows. Zechs watched her lithe form disappear and turned back around. Time to face the vultures… hopefully Chang was already working on disabling the comm. system… 


	12. Preparations

Chapter Thirteen: Preparations

Sailor Moon gracefully landed in the empty stone courtyard of the old stone cathedral she had called home for so many years. Just as she touched her brooch and finished changing into her street clothes—a pair of comfortably well-worn and washed blue jeans and a white short-sleeve button down blouse—the children of the orphanage came rushing outside to play for their afternoon recess. 

"Serena!"

"Serena!" Multiple little voices called out to her so excited she was back. Laughing at their child-like innocence, Serena gave them a big smile and bent down, arms open wide to catch a few of the fastest ones in a large hug. Soon she was in the center of a dog pile on the ground, and Jed stood watching amusedly in the corner while the kids surrounded her and held her hostage.

"Okay you guys! I'm happy to be home too! But I need to get up!" Her giggling trailed off as she stood and brushed the dirt from her butt and tried to do the same for her back. Feeling at ease, the children went back to playing foursquare, hopscotch, catch, and tag football for their half hour break. Jed approached Serena and helped knock off the last remaining twigs from her back that she just couldn't manage to reach. 

"Welcome back Serena. Let's go sit inside where we can watch the kids through the windows and talk." He beckoned for her to follow him inside. She nodded and the smile dripped from her face. 

"I have serious news to discuss." Jed frowned. He didn't like seeing the silver haired woman before him so dark—her once sky blue eyes now a stormy oceanic. He felt as though instead of swimming in them he was drowning to the depths of the seas. The taunt purse of her lips was not a good sign either—even a fake smile was a better sign than none at all. 

As Serena followed Jed inside she took note that his left arm was in a sling, and his left eye had an eye-patch covering it. So Chaos had been here. She wouldn't trouble him to ask him what tricks she had used on him—Chaos had an awful habit of flipping wonderful memories to horrific events that ruined even the brightest of past moments.

"Are there people still in the church?" She questioned him as they entered the mess hall. 

"A few. Most of them cleared out to hear Zechs Marquise speak…" Serena nodded. That had been Quatre Winner's plan…

"I heard he was going to; did he say anything relevant?"

"He gave a good speech. Nothing people didn't already know really, but the refresher course helped. It's sad how humans are such sheep. They needed to follow Relena Peacecraft around, and now they need her brother to lead them by the nose." He scoffed. "He did also mention the Preventers are setting up victim relief and aid centers all over— most of the people in the church left for the closest one about two hours ago."

"Good. They shouldn't be around the children." Serena was trying to choose her words carefully. She didn't want to alarm Jed, but she needed someone to be on the same wavelength. She needed someone to bounce ideas off of. "Jed, I had an encounter with a very interesting monster. One of Chaos', obviously. 'An outpouring of the evil spirit among humanity will manifest itself as their greatest fears— famine, plague, war and death await the human race' were her exact words. She watched as his iceberg blue eyes widened in shock.

"I'm surprised Chaos isn't the antichrist herself…" He trailed off quietly. "So she's really going to hit us hard." He gulped and Serena nodded.

"I came back to bounce a few ideas off of you, but also to make sure that at the very least you and the kids would be set here. I'll be leaving to deal with the other issues, but I can't in good conscience leave here without knowing you'll all be alright. The worst part is she knows you're here… especially you…" He blushed in embarrassment and wished he could hide his wounds. "And if you have a problem, if something happens to you, we need to know the kids will be alright." She finished quietly.

"I agree one hundred percent. Before we need to worry about me disappearing though, we need to be set for everything coming." He frowned, then cracked open one of the windows towards the courtyard. "Jacob, Charles, can I please see you in here for a second?" Serena smiled. Brilliant. 

As the two boys entered the kitchen, Serena and Jed both saw the multitude of dirty looks that they were giving each other. This was the perfect way to bring two enemies together: to force them to work with each other in a matter of life and death. 

"Yes?" Charles said politely. Jacob stood quietly glaring at Serena. 

"I need you boys to go grocery shopping for me." Serena smiled lightly. Both boys' eyes lit up with the prospect of food.

"Really? We've never been asked to do that before?" Charles questioned.

"Shut up idiot, don't ruin it!" Jacob sneered under his breath. Charles glared at him but looked back expectedly at Serena.

"I don't have time and Jed has to stay here and watch the younger children, but I trust that you two can do an excellent job of picking up as many canned goods as you possibly can? I need you two to get absolutely nothing fresh, and nothing that's a waste of time—meaning I don't want to see doughnuts or Oreos. I need to see soup, beans, canned fruits and vegetables… and water as well. Boys, this is incredibly important. There's a lot of unrest going on right now, and we need you two to really step it up and help us out… please help us to take care of your younger friends that aren't yet as strong or smart as you are." Her voice was firm but low and quiet. Neither of the two boys had ever heard the woman who had practically raised them use that voice—ever. Charles was the first to nod. 

"Ok Serena. We can go to the store and get canned goods. Ramen work?"

"Idiot, ramen is non-perishable, of course it will work. What money do we take?" Jacob asked haughtily. Serena smiled. That was just some people's personalities…

"I'm going to give you my grocery account card, it can only use it at the grocery store, which is perfect for you two gentlemen, correct?" Serena lifted her right eyebrow in a skeptical rhetorical question. She knew the answer, but still felt it necessary to lay down the expectations for the teenagers just in case.

"Yes." Both of them nodded, one more enthusiastic than the other. She smiled as she turned to Jed, who produced the account card from his wallet and handed it to them. 

"We should go now?" Charles questioned carefully.

"Yes, go right now. I'd like to see you two back in no more than two hours time. You'll be surprised how long grocery shopping can take you—oh! Don't forget, though things like Macaroni and Cheese sound good and seem non-perishable, they require other ingredients like milk and butter—stay away from those too." The blonde and silver haired woman rattled off as the two boys were turning to leave the mess hall. With vague "okays" and "yeahs" she settled back down to her seat and once more turned her attention back to Jed.

"We need to board the windows up here too. I don't want anyone to even think there are still people living here. The children need to be sheltered from all the outside. I want no one getting in, and no one going out. Unfortunately things can't be as easy as they have been in the past. We need to prepare for the worst, and hope that we've done enough to survive." Jed was already nodding his head.

"When the boys get back I'll take aside the older six or so of them and have them begin to board everything up. We'll place the entire orphanage on lockdown."

"Good." Letting out a final exhausted sigh Serena stood and glanced out the large pane glass window at the happy children in the courtyard. "Everything used to be so simple Jed." She placed her hand against the cool glass, her voice low and eyes dim. "I remember strawberry sundaes, arcade games, failing math exams, tripping and scraping my knee. These children will remember two, three wars. They'll only remember you and I as parental figures, and we might not even survive the next few months. They'll vaguely have memories of playing outside which will be overshadowed by sitting in a boarded up, broken down cathedral and listening to panic and anguish all around them. If they survive even then their heads will have such horrific recollections…"

"Serena." His voice cracked. "Serenity." He said, this time with affirmation and conviction behind the name. "We will protect these children and this world to the best of our ability. We can only do as much as we can… and as much as we can do we should be enough. We will survive. We will survive to not only help these children to see the future, but to have happy memories they've yet to create and happy futures they've yet to dream of. Because that is what we are here for. We're lucky Serenity. We've been given an extraordinary gift: we know our purpose in life. Humans walk around, forever searching to add meaning to their existence. We were placed here to allow them that mystery. And we will succeed in all our attempts to keep it that way." He reached his hand forward slightly, as if thinking to place it upon her shoulder in empathy, yet drew it back at the last moment and let it drop back to his side not sure if it would be accepted. They stood in amiable silence for a moment longer. Then she pulled her hand back from the glass and straightened her shirt in a fidgeting motion.

"Thanks. Everyone needs a pep talk sometimes." She grinned at him. A hollow, empty smile he knew. His heart felt as though someone was pounding on it slowly with a sledgehammer. If his speech had such little impact upon her dark thoughts, he could only imagine the true horrors that lie ahead of them. 

"Anyway Jed. I feel as though the best route at this time is to make the Preventers aware of my existence, or at the very least warn them what they have to prepare for. I've thought about this long and hard, and it seems to be my best option. I used to have more allies to depend upon, but seeing as only you and I are really going to have any true grasp of the possibilities… They need to be able to prepare so that they too can help stave off as much 'chaos' as viable. I've seen the leaders of the organization in action, I've heard them behind closed doors in what should have been private meetings, and I've even, surprisingly, met a few of them in person. I dare say they will be able to handle at least a generalized version of the events, both reasons for the current issues and potential events to come. And I think I know right where to start…" Her voice trailed off. Jed could only nod. He knew her speech was really to rationalize her thoughts aloud more than explain to him her actions.

"Sounds good. Logical." He pressed quietly. She gave a definite nod.

"Okay then. I'm going to go take care of this. Remember: board the windows, doors, every nook and cranky. No one in, no one out. Don't let the world know you're here."

"We'll manage. If you need anything, Serena, you know how to reach me." She smiled, this time a real smile. The corners of her eyes crinkled and a short laugh followed. 

"I do. Be safe. I'm going to say goodbye to the children now." He smiled thinly and turned, motioning towards the door.

"Ladies first?"

)(

Wufei Chang looked at the Winner resource satellite in front of him. Nodding to himself proudly, he turned around to face the empty metallic room surrounded by once lit computer screens and buttons. The only monitor still left operational was the one right behind him—and it was the only one that would remain so until the Preventers—more specifically either Quatre or Yui determined otherwise. Une would of course have to give the final word, but they all knew it was a team effort to which Quatre was the practical brains and Yui was the puppeteer behind him. However Wufei was a soldier, a true warrior at heart. Driven by his passion to fight to do what was right in his mind and heart he had long ago come to terms with the fact that his actions should coincide with those of the two ringleaders. He was born to fight and lead in battle anyway—not to try to come up with solutions on how to create a peaceful environment. His soul responsibility now, he felt, was derived from the fight to keep and maintain peace. And in disabling the communications satellites he was doing his part. 

Now the biased media could not send news over the airwaves. Whether they were biased for or against him and his cause, it didn't matter. Any news would be fodder for unrest. While their communication between Earth and the colonies might suffer temporarily, he knew that temporarily was much better than permanently severing peace.

Replacing his helmet over his head and latching it, Wufei grimaced at his task that lay ahead. Back to L5, where he had grown up. He was to now set up his version of a Preventer unit for the victims and civilians who needed aid in this time of crisis. Sally had set hers up on Earth and his last communica had been with her about how he should go about his. Not that he needed advice from a woman about how to operate a crisis prevention center… he sneered at his own thoughts. He knew Sally had good ideas when it came to victims and civilians as she herself was also still considered—in his mindset—to be one of them. She knew what they would need the most being one herself. 

His return to L5 also meant he could look at why that colony in particular was having power grid issues. The other few colonies had had one or two problems, but the news had been reporting that L5 was having strange power outages that had still not been accounted for or fixed. It seemed as though pestilence was taking root within the system, and he was going to find out why if it killed him.

Grabbing onto the metal railing that led up to the docking bay he heaved himself up the metal staircase and up to the catwalk that ran around the large open ship parking garage. No one had been in this resources satellite since the Eve Wars had ended; the entire hunk of electronic metal that controlled the majority of all communications had been abandoned in turn for the reunification of families near the end of both conflicts. It had been easy to simply dock his small shuttle, hop out, and get into the main controls. He mentally questioned how long it would take someone, anyone, to figure out that it was this particular satellite that would need repairing before the communications systems would be up and running. And with even Earth-to-Earth communications limited to strictly local bandwidths, he knew it would take even longer to dispatch someone to come fix the problem. 

Boarding his shuttle he sat down at the controls and quickly closed the hanger doors. Pulling off the helmet he had only moments earlier smashed down onto his head, Wufei wiped the sweat beads from his forehead. It only took another moment before the shuttle was in space and puttering towards L5. The Chinese man closed his eyes and let his head fall back against his seat as plans of crisis centers and power grids raced through his mind. He hoped the others' tasks were going as smoothly as his so far.

)(

"No, let's get three sets of teams sent out to the former European Union and former United States each right away. At seventy apiece we should be able to spread them out fairly well and cover most of the major cities and metropolitan areas. That's the last of them, right Barton?"

"Yes Lady Une, that's the last of them. Everyone else has been deployed elsewhere. I know we're running thin only keeping one task force here, but if we keep our central base appearing weak it will probably look better to the public." The quiet tall and slender man answered in a mellow voice. 

"We're set then here. You can head up to L3 anytime if you'd like. We're set here—all of our centers are being set up, and you need to get yours in gear as well. It's hard to keep you here knowing L3 has no one to trust when I can refer back to Sally, Zechs, or even Yui if desperate. Earth is in good hands: go put L3 in the same position. Wufei sent me a voicemail before he cut communications off and said he was heading directly for L5 when he was finished. I may even end up sending Sally to L2—Hiiro told me Duo received some rather serious injuries and is currently lying comatose in the Winner mansion. I'd like to know we at the very least have all of the other colonies secured before anything else follows." As Lady spoke Trowa watched her free flowing mocha hair fling itself about her shoulders and face. Her words were sincere, and her demeanor was feverish. Her amber eyes seemed slightly glazed over, and her hoarse voice gave the signs that she had been straining too hard to complete the never-ending list of tasks set before. Trowa shook his head quietly at her disposition, yet countered with a more definite nod of his head.

"I'm on my way to the shuttle—" he paused, took a breath, and just before he stepped out the door stopped. "How did Duo become injured?"

Lady Une stared at his lean back for a moment, then cleared her throat. "Hiiro said a monster attacked him. Not a symbolic monster; a real, live, purple and green monster." She pursed her lips and watch Trowa's head turn slightly to his left so he could glance hard at her out of the corner of his piercing forest green eyes. 

"A monster." His deep voice stated questioningly.

"A monster." She confirmed. "He claimed Catherine, Hilde, and Rashid all witnessed it by watching through the window."

"A monster." He breathed. "Hmm." Was his last attempt at making sense of this insane discussion. "I'll be on L3. If you need me…"

"I know, I'll contact you." She smiled faintly at his disappearing figure. 

She really couldn't blame him for thinking she was crazy. She herself thought Hiiro had blown a fuse… But when had the Perfect Soldier ever been wrong in terms of an enemy he was up against? She had no reason not to believe him. A knock on her closed heavy oak door brought her back from her digression.

"Come in." The door opened and Hiiro Yui stalked into her office to stand before her desk. His messy chocolate hair stuck out in every which direction, and his sallow skin seemed drawn too tightly over his bones and muscles to be a real man. His sharp indigo eyes penetrated her normally calm and collected façade, leaving her feeling weak and useless. Still, she managed to pull herself together just enough. "Hiiro. How may I help you?"

"Relena was not shot by a gun. The autopsy reports show that though there is a bullet-sized hole in her forehead, just to the right of her right eye and another straight through the heart, there are no bullets to be found. Furthermore, there are no exits wounds. There is no gunshot residue anywhere on her body. The wounds which seem to have killed her were not made by any type of gun known." The technical finesse behind his words struck a chord in Une. Hiiro truly had no feelings one way or the other for Relena. To him she was just another dead body. She watched him unwavering as he waited for her response.

"Interesting. And there's no weapon made other than a gun that could account for her life-ending injuries?"

"Not at such a range. If it had been a closer, more personal death there might have been a few items, but nothing else fits the description." Hiiro replied.

"Are you telling me that no human weapon is responsible for Relena Peacecraft's death Mr. Yui?" Une barked. Hiiro was going off his rocker. There was no way he was still sane.

"Yes Lady." Hiiro didn't know what else to say. He simply spoke the truth.

"Hiiro, there's no way. There's just no way!" Her calm disposition was waning quickly. "You're telling me that no human weapon, nothing man-made in the world, could have possibly, even probably, been the murder weapon used by Relena Peacecraft's killer? Pardon me for asking, but are you fucking crazy?" 

"Actually, I think he's probably got a much better idea of what's happening in the world than most people do." A delicate voice carried over the air like wind chimes and dripped into hearing. Both sets of eyes, amber and cobalt swiveled towards the windowsill. Standing atop the sill of the four-story building stood a striking womanly figure.

AN: Hahaha seems I'm hitting a new wave of readers. I'm Vixen—technically I've been writing fanfiction for a very long time. If you're just now reading this for the first time, hi! I have lots of other (most of them much darker) fics written. Most of them are Hiiro/Sere, I have a little of everything out there though. I also like to cross my T's and dot my I's in my stories, so you'll see me try to be very thorough in this fic. It will be a romance, I promise, it's just slow starting off, which is what I think is best because (and reading my old fics I know I used to do this a lot) having characters fall for each other fast is weird and doesn't seem right. This will attempt to draw things out just a little. I intend on finishing this fic if it kills me— it's taken me a yr to update and four to get here, but I'll be damned if I leave it undone. Questions, comments, concerns, leave me a review! Much love, Vixen


	13. Truth Takes a Prisoner

Chapter Fourteen: Truth Takes A Prisoner

Within seconds Hiiro had a cool metal gun within his hand and was trained on the form above them. A slender shadow hovered over the mystery woman's face, but her appearance was a more astonishing sight than either Une or Hiiro had ever imagined. Stiletto knee-high red boots trimmed in white graced her seemingly endless pale legs. They made her height quite deceiving: Hiiro estimated the woman herself was no more than five feet tall, maybe just over. The boots, however, were merely the beginning of the ensemble. Flaunting a layered navy blue, green, and goldenrod mini skirt that left little to the imagination she barely seemed to notice as the cool breeze of the twilight billowed it softly around her. The skin-tight white body suite was strangely trimmed with white pouffy sleeves Hiiro found a little ridiculous; only to find that elbow length white gloves seemed to offset her slim arms. A navy collar that was reminiscent of a sailor's uniform angled in a modest v-neck, connected to the white leotard by a heart shaped golden locket framed in a large red bow across her chest. A fantastically large cold-white bow was situated at the small of her back and rustled in the wind, flowing with the skirt in perfect unison. All in all, though the effect was completely bizarre it was also uncommonly breathtaking. Neither Hiiro nor Une could speak as they waited in quiet shock at for the person above them to make her next move.

"At least, it seems, Hiiro is more open to entertaining more exotic explanations for the world's current events anyway." Serena, transformed as Super Sailor Moon, jumped down from the windowsill and landed gracefully on the floor in Lady Une's office. Swallowing hard to try and alleviate the lump that was forming in her throat from nerves she quickly closed her mouth and waited for someone to finally respond to her.

Now that she had descended from her high perch Une and Hiiro could fully glance at her face in detail. A gold tiara graced her forehead with a ruby in the center, and tiny white wing-like decorations adorned her silver hair, pulled into two unusual buns with long pigtails that streamed to the floor. Her complexion was pale as porcelain, and though her lips of red stood out against her cool skin tone her eyes seemed to be shrouded—he could not, no matter how hard he tried, focus enough to look directly into them. Very much unsettled by the inability to perform as he knew he should be able, the Perfect Solider grimaced. Enemy? Friend? Threat? Help? Une was the first to recover her forgotten voice.

"Who the hell are you?" She strongly put forward. It was not intended to be intimidating necessarily, yet her resonant voice carried a certain amount of strength to her mystery invader. Hiiro's gun never left her as they stood and awaited a reply.

"You may call me Sailor Moon. I am here to aid you in your attempts to keep and maintain peace." Serena's voice cracked slightly as she introduced herself and she could feel her cheeks heating up to become beet red. This was no time for her to falter—she needed to project as much strength and authority as Une did to gain not only the right to be taken seriously, but also the respect she would need to accomplish her goals.

"Sailor Moon?" Une's voice was raspy. "You've got to be kidding me. First monsters, now a Sailor Moon? What's next, Relena coming back from the dead?" Shaking her head slightly, she pursed her lips in decision-making mode. What was her next move? Next question? Next anything?

"I know it sounds a little ridiculous and far-fetched, but please hear me out." Serena kept her voice even and tried to drop her shoulder in an attempt to shrug off her nerves. She was used to the enemy being more hostile than the allies… Then again, she had never had regular human allies to deal with. It was only to be expected that they treat her with skepticism and reservation at first. "I'm only here to help."

Hiiro was done with this situation. No silver-haired Sailor-chick was going to make him feel as though he were in danger. He was going to take control back, act first and ask questions later. Gracefully he dropped down and swept his left leg below Serena's feet. The Sailor, completely unprepared for a friendly attack, tripped and fell backwards in complete shock and surprise.

"Oh!" Her short gasp echoed through the room as Hiiro then slipped behind her and took hold of her wrists, drawing them behind her back and securing them strongly with one hand. In the other he held his gun directly to her temple.

"Trespassing is illegal, no matter who you are." Were his simple words as an explanation of his actions.

"I'm not a threat to you, I promise, I'm here to help!" She couldn't help but fall back into a squeaky high-pitched version of her former schoolgirl self. "I can't believe you don't even want to hear me out!"

"Perhaps we do, but your entry was too unconventional to warrant any trust on our part. Please understand that we're only taking the full precautions we would take for anyone else. If you truly turn out to be a friend, we will discern that for ourselves with time." Une could feel cold sweats racking through her frail body. This was so different from any situation she'd previously been in—where was Treiz when she needed him the most… Shaking the thoughts from her head, she knew what he would say: "Lady, it's your decision. Follow your instincts, they've always been dead on." But this time she felt there was little to follow, so much was happening that was no longer instinctual for her. She wondered if she still belonged in this position of power with her skills and intuition obviously becoming dull. Yet these were thoughts for her mind to ponder late at night in bed alone, not in the here and now with a costume wearing Sailor girl in front of her.

"Hiiro, please place her in our holding tank for now. Sailor, we are holding you until further notice."

"What?" Serena's jaw dropped and she cringed in slight pain—Hiiro's grip was becoming tighter with every word she spoke. But if they put her in a holding cell she wouldn't be able to do anyone any good! "Please, let me explain…"

"We will be running a background check on you before we ask or allow you to ask any further questions. I'm sorry Sailor, but with the Vice Foreign Minister's recent assassination we're on high alert and taking no chances. Please allow my colleague to escort you peacefully, or we will be forced to take stronger action against you." Une finalized. With a nod of her head, she signaled to Hiiro to lead the Sailor away. As the two walked out the door and it closed behind them, Une trembling like a lead sat herself down in her leather office chair. Slowly looking around the empty room, she folded her arms on top of her desk and let her head droop down to rest upon them. As the tears fell faster and faster, a strangled sob rose in her throat. What could possibly be next?

"You know I'm not going to try to run; you could loosen your grip just a little." Serena glanced over her shoulder at Hiiro. Her eyes saw the light glint off of his dark metallic gun and swallowed hard. "It's a nice .22—Any kick on it?"

"Not much." Were his only words, but his grip remained just as tight. Hiiro only had only a few thoughts in his head at the moment, none of which he needed her talking to interrupt. How had she gotten onto the ledge, how had she jumped down without hurting herself? And what had she meant when she had said that he, at least, was willing to see "exotic" answers to all the current issues they were facing? But he already knew the answer to that question. He had seen that monster. He _knew_ that there were stranger forces than he wanted to admit working against them. The monster, and it's body had just disintegrated… and the wounds on Relena… None of them could be attributed to normal or reasonable explanations. And this Sailor girl was living proof that the events swirling around them were not something he was A) knowledgeable about or B) prepared for. But why did _she_ already know this? _How much_ did she already know? And _why_ did she know before him? The Perfect Soldier was edgy about the fact that for once he had no idea what was going on around him. And if milking this woman in a sailor costume was going to get him more information, he would use any means necessary to get it.

As the two silently walked down the hall they reached a door with a beam of light streaming from beneath it. As Hiiro swung it open they both blinked in momentary blindness as their eyes adjusted to the light. People and computers hummed around them as organized chaos reigned in the office. Desks were piled high with papers and phones were ringing non-stop with screaming voices of terror on the other end. Hiiro frowned at the mess, and Serena worriedly surveyed the scene. It didn't look as though the Preventers had anything under control to either of the two new entries.

"Preventer Zero, thank god you're around!" A young man, Serena guessed his age to be close to the mid-twenties, approached them from the left. His Preventer uniform was wrinkled and top three buttons undone.

"I am currently occupied, is there something I should know about?" Hiiro glared. The man surprisingly did not seem deterred, though a few people behind him noticeably shuddered and turned away in mild trepidation. It was the first time all day Serena had cracked a real smile. So Hiiro made people that nervous? She had seen so many sides of him already. When they had first met in the cemetery she had seen his quiet, confused, and self-loathing side. Then she had seen his caring side when he handled his godchildren. His calculating and strategic side after Relena's assassination… and now his driven, feared side within the workplace. He was a man of many emotions with only one facial expression: stoicism. It made her smile to think that while everything constantly changed around them, some people could handle any situation no matter what was thrown their way. In fact, he reminded her quite a bit of someone she had put out of the forefront of her mind for years. Her smile dropped. Now she wished he would simply stick her in a cell by herself so she could have some time to regroup and clear her mind.

"I think you should…" The young man spoke up, bringing Serena back from her own digression. "We've received credible intelligence that the crops in the fields have died… Some type of fungal pathogen has demolished half the world's food supply overnight. And that's not the worst part… the communications systems are out, meaning people have been panicking when they arrive in the grocery stores to find nothing to eat. The stores were picked over in the last set of raids, and since the emergency stores and current crop have been infected… Well, put bluntly, we have no food! The entire world is short on food supplies. It's a global famine!" Hiiro's grip loosened considerably on Serena's wrists as he heard the news being fed to him by the young man.

"Contact all the Preventer camps here on Earth and tell them to begin strongly rationing food. Then take this information the Lady Une and brief her on the situation." Hiiro dictated his directions to the frantic Preventer. "When you say this has affected all the crops in the fields, is it limited to one specific crop, or has it spread to others?"

"That's what's so weird. In certain places it's hit every crop. For example, the Salinas Valley in the former United States and the mid-west of the former United States, two of the places most food for that section of the world comes from, were both devastated. So was the rice crop in places like Japan and China. But then we've also had strange reports of locusts in the Middle East and India. The swarms have devastated their crops as well. It's only been in the last five to six hours that this has all happened…"

"For right now just get in touch with the Preventer Units and inform Lady Une. If the crops are gone there's not much we can do from here immediately. That's a problem that will take us months to solve…all we can do for now is ration what we have left." Hiiro inwardly grimaced. Nothing they could do… famine was racing through the world and all he could do was ration what food was left. How ridiculous did he feel, how useless.

Serena felt sick. Grimly she hung her head. And this was only the beginning, she knew. She knew what everyone else did not: why. With the world's population becoming more and more panicked it was only a matter of time before the situation grew worse. Sitting in a holding cell was going to do nothing to help her cause. She felt Hiiro's grip tighten on her again as he pushed her to begin moving with him toward another door across the room from them.

He opened the door for her and allowed her free once inside the room. The gray cinderblock walls closed in around her and to her right the wall made of mirrors gave her the impression she was in a fun house that had a warped sense of humor. A table with three chairs sat in the center of the room, and Serena assumed she was supposed to sit facing the mirrored wall—so everyone could watch her questioning.

"Sit down." Hiiro gruffly spat at her before closing the door and locking it behind him. He turned to face her, the petite girl in costume sitting at the table with no expression on her face. How many problems had she already caused. "Repeat your title." He would begin with the basics.

"Sailor Moon." Serena pursed her lips and made a silent promise to herself not to let on anymore than he needed to know. Hiiro, she knew from the little experience she had already had with him, was an unstable individual who did not like surprises, or people that knew more than he did. In her opinion the best thing she could do was simply play along at the moment and see where it led her.

"Real name?"

"Sailor Moon." Hiiro's eyebrows furrowed. Serena fought the urge to roll her eyes. This was superhero rule number one, come on Hiiro! Did he honestly expect her to break the cardinal rule?

"Answer me fully. Real name." Apparently.

"Sailor Moon." Hiiro, short temper flaring, grabbed Serena's shoulder and dug his fingers into her skin roughly.

"Don't make this any more difficult on yourself than it already is. Real name."

"You should know that I could never, no matter how much you threaten me, let my true identity known. That's the way its always been and the way it's going to stay." Serena kept her face in a deadpanned expression, never letting on how much his grasp was hurting her. And then, as quickly as he had grabbed her, he let his grip drop and pushed away.

"The less forthcoming you are with me the less I trust you, the less likely you are to ever see the light of day again. Are you clear on that Sailor?"

"I'm willing to take the risks necessary. That's why I'm here." Their eyes clashed in a battle of wills, deep and turbulent oceanic eyes versus the serious swirling chocolate. Neither looked away as Hiiro asked his next question.

"What is your purpose in being here?"

"The same purpose you have: prevent the outbreak of war and chaos throughout the Earth and colonies."

"You are not a Preventer trained to handle these situations, what makes you think that you will be able to "prevent" anything?"

"How do you know I'm not a Preventer?" Serena flipped his question.

"All Preventers are present and accounted for in the field of duty. You are obviously not one. You had to sneak into the base. A Preventer would have known to simply contact Lady Une. You are not a Preventer. Who are you?"

"Wow, you do have some analytical skills, who would have guessed?" Serena smirked, and Hiiro frowned. She was toying with him! Hiiro, becoming frustrated faster and faster, whipped his gun out and his twitching index finger pulled the trigger effortlessly. The loud blast hit the back of the chair millimeters from Serena's shoulder.

"Do you think I'm playing games with you? Do you think I have time to stand here and listen to bullshit?" Serena now narrowed her eyes in strong defiance.

"No, I don't, which is why I'm surprised we're still here. I told you I'm here to help. I'm here to supply you with information that you would never be able to collect on your own, and what's more I'm here to somehow convince you that the events of the last few days are no coincidence. You're taking up my time and your by locking me in here treating me like the enemy. I'm an ally. Actually, I'm your best chance at this point. And I'm being treated like I'm a murderer. I'm not that one who's responsible for Relena's death, but I know who is. And if you want the truth I suggest giving me some respect in return."

Hiiro's eyes never left the petite woman's form as her face raged with quiet emotion. Her once pale cheeks burned with flush and her pink lips pouted with anger. Her entire body was shaking by the time she was finished with her tirade, chest heaving with the deep breaths she was taking in order to try to calm herself down. And all he heard was "I'm not the one responsible for Relena's death, but I know who is." And that was all he needed to hear.

This time his gun, still hot from the previous warning shot, was placed directly up against her temple. Serena blinked back tears as the hot metal burned a ring into her skin. Her ears barely registered his deep and sinister voice.

"Who killed her?"

"Who has everything to gain from total anarchy?" Serena shot back. Daring Hiiro, even with his gun at point blank range, she told herself, was not smart. But she was not going to simply give in either. It was not in her nature.

"Who killed her?" Hiiro spat, driving the gun harder into her temple. Serena allowed his anger to run its course, hoping that her methods would end in her favor in the long run.

"Anarchy. A situation in which there is total lack of organization and authority. A power vacuum rather. And what has taken Relena's place? I know you sent Zechs Marquis out to try to act as a figurehead of peace, but let's be honest Hiiro. Milliardo Peacecraft is not in charge of the situation. And the Preventers are only acting in response to the current events. Who is pulling all the strings? The very same person who would want and thrive off of the anarchy she has created. An evil force that is far more powerful than the government, the Preventers, or even yourself Hiiro. Chaos has taken over. Literally." And just like that Hiiro's gun dropped from Serena's forehead. His limp arm fell back to his side, gun clutched loosely in his grip.

"Chaos." He muttered, eyes blank.

"Chaos." Serena reaffirmed. "We had always hoped she would never reawaken. We had always hoped order and balance would remain in the world. But hope is not strong enough to thwart fate forever. And if you think I'm trying to be funny. If you think I'm throwing you some, as you said, "bullshit" line, go ahead and think about that green and purple monstrosity that put Duo into a coma. Then tell me that you honestly, in your heart of hearts, have no room to believe that Chaos could ever take a solid form and wreak havoc on the world. Go ahead, tell me you don't believe it."

Hiiro was silent for a moment digesting all that the silver-haired girl before him was telling him. Slowly he stepped around the wooden questioning table and sat down on a chair across from her. It was hard to even listen to what this risquély-clad woman in her Sailor costume was saying; yet her words struck a chord within him. 'Here we lay Chaos to rest in hopes that order will return to the world.' Nearly the very same words that were engraved upon the gravestone that he had read not four days earlier. The very same feeling he had held within his stomach and gut since Relena had been shot was that of Chaos. The world around him had been in shambles and he had felt useless to improve the situation. And now here was this incredibly odd threat sitting before him claiming she was an ally, and that his instincts had been right all along.

Serena allowed Hiiro his thought –process, understanding that for anyone it might be hard to comprehend the possibilities. But she knew she could not wait forever. Actions needed to be taken as soon as possible.

"Hiiro. Breathe. I know all of this sounds crazy, weird, impossible. But you've seen it with your own eyes. Dare you tell me a monster isn't responsible for your friend Duo's condition?" Hiiro narrowed his eyes.

"How do you know about Duo?" His voice, though he had meant it to seem threatening, was quiet and withdrawn.

"I was there. I'm the one who pulled him aside. I'm the one who sent the glowing disk at the monster. And I heard her words as she passed away."

"You've been following me."

"I followed the Preventers in hopes of learning how best to assist you. You happened to be one. And from my observations I have determined the best way to help you is to explain the situation as best as I can to you in hopes that we can take certain steps toward avoiding certain future events from coming to pass." Serena was glad she was finally reaching the irrational side of Hiiro. As dangerous as she knew it could be, she also knew that was the only side of him that would listen to her crazy stories and maybe believe them. It was so hard for humans to grasp certain concepts… and after millennia of silence from the world of magic, how could any of her words remotely appear to be true? All she could do was rest on showing, not telling at this point.

"How did you kill that monster?"

"Instead of focusing on how, let's go over her final words. How I did it isn't as important as what's to come."

"Did that monster kill Relena?" Hiiro's eyes were vacant as he sat deep in thought.

"It's a good possibility. You said it yourself: a human weapon of any kind could in no way have made the wounds. Then again, it could have been Chaos herself in her first act of war against the human race. I'm really not completely sure who the actual assassin was and I don't think that matters as much as the concept that Chaos pulled the strings behind it."

"And what exactly are you proposing this "Chaos" wants out of creating total anarchy?"

"That's just it Hiiro. All she wants is anarchy and panic. That is her only motive. And our only concern now should be how to survive her attempts at the destruction of the human race."


	14. It Starts

Chapter Fifteen: It Starts

"Since communication is down we have no way of knowing whether or not the Earth is planning on attacking us! We need to be prepared!"

"We need to institute a draft immediately—all able-bodied men need to report to each colony's old hangers in an attempt to gather enough people to fight back."

"If we fight back we'll be crushed! The Earth has far more people and resources than we do. What will happen if we fight and lose? They'll dismantle the colonies and use the metal for cars on Earth! We'll be second-class citizens under their rule yet again."

"Gentlemen, gentlemen! I know you're frustrated and anxious about the Earth, but we need to put more faith in our fellow humans!" One voice stood out amongst the rest. The men in the confining sweatbox of a committee hearing room all turned to face the speaker. The man speaking was in truth a teenager that was less than half of most of their ages. His blonde bangs hung gracefully in his cornflower blue eyes and his once pressed white collared dress shirt was now wrinkled from being worn day after day. Yet when Quatre Winner spoke he commanded great respect.

"Listen gentlemen. I too am a colony-born citizen who has nothing but our best interests at heart. Yet when I hear us all speak of going back to war, I shudder to think of the consequences. And when I say consequences, I'm not concerned about the dismantlement of the colonies as much as I am concerned about the loss of human lives that may come from it. How many times have we been in this exact spot, with these exact same fears and problems? Too many to count. But to break the cycle we need to think of new and innovative ways to approach the problems with Earth. Jumping right to war would be costly on both sides. Is there any other solution we can come up with before becoming more militarily inclined?"

In his heart Quatre knew that even with his fancy words and speeches there would still be those who wanted to settle for nothing less than military action. He knew further that there would be those that would want to build their military simply as a precautionary method… and he saw both groups of those men as the ones he must convince first that war would not solve anything.

"What Mr. Winner is trying to say, men, is that though we may favor war as one of the paths to peace, it is not the only way as the Vice Foreign Minister Darlian has shown us. We all agreed while she was here that peace can be found through talks and accords as well." Quatre looked over in pride at his best friend's girlfriend. Dorothy spoke with a cool and collected voice that seemed to echo even in the crammed room. He knew her inner struggle between war and pacifism still raged on, yet here she was making huge public strides in favor of a peaceful existence. Trowa would be so proud, he knew.

"She's right. Ms. Relena did not want us to have to fight each other any longer. Her very platform was fight for peace with peace. She never stiffed the colonies—she was always a fantastic moderator. Let us see if her brother, Milliardo Peacecraft, can bring the same feeling of equality to the peace talks?" Quatre continued. "Since we have no communication with the Earth I find it hard to reasonably begin to take actions against people who may be taking no action against us."

"And what if they are taking action against us? What if it is they who have jammed the comm. signals? What if it is their intent to strike us first, and we are caught unprepared?" A portly man with a beard stood dressed in full uniform.

"Senator Dreyfus." Quatre acknowledged him. "And what if they are mobilizing troops? What if it is a small faction of people, not the government? Do you not think the Earth's government will not crack down on those who try to destroy peace? I will tell you I personally just returned from a three-month stay on the Earth as a delegate, and not once did I see or hear any rumors that the Earth's government was making any action towards the colonies other than in the name of peace. If we mobilize we will only give the Earth government cause for concern and end up escalating the problem."

"And, Senator Winner, if we take no action and it turns out you were being deceived all your time on the Earth, what then? We may not even have time to correct our mistake in not preparing for the worst."

"But men, that's just the very problem. In preparing for the worst we assume the worst about our fellow humans, something I'm sure Vice Foreign Minister Darlian would have strongly opposed. She told us it is our obligation to fight for peace. We need not breakout the military equipment to fight until all other avenues have been exhausted; and as far as I can see we have tried nothing to the effect of even setting up talks yet. We have simply gathered here today to speak on the current situation and how best to help resolve the rioting and unrest. Which, may I add, is widespread. The Earth citizens are in just as much a panic as the colonies. It would be unfair for us to assume it was their fault by looking at their own reaction to the situation. We really can do nothing until we know more about the circumstances regarding Relena Darlian's death." Dorothy quipped. Her deviously shaped eyebrows rose in an invitation for someone to question her logic.

No one spoke for several moments, each of the older men feeling slightly intimidated by the younger set of Senators who were favoring what they knew to be nothing but rational thought. Still, the irrational emotions of fear and mistrust of Earth was deeply embedded within their dogmas—long since drilled in through the years of experience and war they had been through.

"The question of whether or not we should go to war is not being addressed today, this is true." The man beside Senator Dreyfus stood. "Yet as a representative for L2 it is my responsibility to simply cover all the options and possible outcomes. While we are not decided to take military action today, we are discussing what our next moves should be now that our main delegate and voice of the colonies, the Vice Foreign Minister Darlian, is gone. That in my mind does include talk, perhaps even new peace agreements and treaties. Perhaps Milliardo Peacecraft will be able to take his sister's place. Or perhaps those talks will fall through without a levelheaded fair and balanced spokesman such as Relena. Perhaps Milliardo will not be as understanding, or as knowledgeable about how to handle certain situations. The truth of the matter is that we just don't know. And further more, we just don't know who is responsible for Relena's death. Whether it was the Earth's government, or a rogue faction on the Earth, how can we not be concerned and not feel the need to cover all of our bases? We can't know, thus we must prepare for every situation." Reclaiming his seat, the broad-chested man folded his arms across his torso and set his jaw firmly.

"Exactly my point. We don't know. How can we allow ourselves to be responsible for escalating something that may not exist yet?" Quatre felt the room losing interest in his repetitive words.

"Which is what we're here to discuss today. Gentlemen, Ms. Catalonia, we'll take it to a vote then. Peace talks will obviously be the first route taken; however our vote is on whether or not to secretly begin to rebuild our military, _in case_ we need it in the near future. It will take a two-thirds majority to render the verdict yes." The Colonial Prime Minister smoothed his mustache as he spoke, a sign of his nerves Quatre knew. Shaking his head, the blonde ex-pilot already knew the outcome of the vote. "Those in favor of _not_ building the military back up until we know more information and have a credible threat, vote nay. Those in _favor_ of preemptively rebuilding the military as a safety precaution will vote yey. You have one hour to place your vote within the voting booth, good luck with your decision gentlemen, weigh them heavily on your conscience."

IIIOIII

Hiiro knocked on Lady Une's door and without waiting for a reply entered. He found the leader of the Preventers glued to her television set and the local news which was just beginning.

"Good afternoon everyone, my name is Terri Jenkins,"

"And I'm Diane Wilcox,"

"And this is your eleven o'clock news brief." The man and woman finished together.

"This evening on the channel five local news we are only broadcasting to a limited amount of people due to the universal problems with communications satellites." Terri began their news brief on a solemn note.

"It is now understood to be a universal communications outage which channel five has not been able to get a straight answer on from the Preventers or anyone in the power company. Though it appears that the Preventers are still operating from their base with full communications on a worldwide level, they too are not able to reach the colonies. There is speculation that the colonies have cut themselves off from Earth in an attempt to hide current actions taken to rebuild their space military. However, Lady Une of the Preventers has been quoted as saying that these accusations against the Colonies are completely unwarranted and are the reason so many people are still uneasy about peace between Earth and Space. Still, credible sources have delineated that the only way the communications systems could go down as they have on such a large scale is if someone tampered with one of the resource satellites that has long since been abandoned after the Eve Wars." Terri looked over to his partner at the news desk and signaled her with a nod.

"In other news today the Preventers have released a press notice warning people to begin rationing their food. According to top agricultural scientists the world's food supply has taken a dangerously low turn for the worse. Sources indicate that an agricultural pathogen entitled oxysporum, which the government originally developed to weed out narcotic plants, has been leaked worldwide and overnight has completely deteriorated food sources. Local farmers claim that their crops have been devastated by the pathogen. There are also claims that in some remote regions of the world locusts have begun to swarm, leaving food supplies in the Middle East and India emaciated. Due to the rioting here in the Cinq Kingdom the grocery stores are nearly picked clean, leaving many citizens worried about where their next meal will come from. Yet hope lingers as the Preventers have reached into their emergency stores and begun rationing food out to those who are in need." Diane stacked her papers on the desk in front of her and Terri cleared his throat.

"And that's the eleven o'clock news brief, I'm Terri Jenkins,"

"And I'm Diane Wilcox,"

"Good evening." They both finished simultaneously.

Neither of them spoke for a moment, then Une cleared her throat and stared up at Hiiro from the seat behind her desk. "Well. We're screwed is one way to look at it. There hasn't been a worldwide famine in over two millennia Hiiro. In fact, I thought the human race had eradicated all bio-terror weapons within 2080 when the Bio-Terror Treaty of China completely outlawed any and all biological pathogens. The entire world watched as they sent each county's stores of bio-warfare weapons into the sun, same as they watched the Gundams being destroyed two years ago."

"The Gundams were never destroyed Une, you know that." Hiiro quietly contradicted her.

"I suppose not. But then, where have these weapons been hiding? Who would have the means to recreate them? The Preventers keep tabs on everything that happens in the Earth in regards to this type of research—surely we would have known if these weapons had been developed!" Her exasperated voice made Hiiro even more self-conscious. He wondered if when he became frustrated his voice gave away so much of his true emotions as well.

"We would have known. I would have known. No one has been re-creating any pathogens Une. In fact, this entire famine we are facing is not of human origin." Hiiro knew what he was saying sounded ridiculous.

"Yui, what the hell has gotten into you? First monsters, then Relena, now this?" Une shouted in rage. "Snap out of it! I don't know what the fuck you've been taking, but you need to sober up and pay attention! This is the end of peace, possibly the beginning of an even darker age for humanity than ever before, and here you are ranting about it not being our fault?" Her voice strained in her screaming, becoming coarser as she continued. And Hiiro simply stood and allowed her to vent. If he had been in her position, he'd be angry with himself as well. But he had seen too many things that gave the Sailor woman an edge in reality. He couldn't ignore what she was saying, even if it sounded ludicrous to his superior.

"What I say may sound impossible. However improbable as it seems, I'm right. The Sailor confirmed that the monster that attacked Duo is responsible for Relena's death. Une, we're dealing with forces that are far beyond our level of comprehension. After I interviewed our intruder I did some research on the name she gave me. She calls herself Sailor Moon. In our computer data banks that tie into the Library of Records I found some very interesting information that applies to our current situation."

"The Library of Records? Hiiro, the only information in that databank is older than the Cinq Kingdom itself! Those files date back to pre-colony life. What could they possibly have to do with our problems right now?"

"The saying history repeats itself is a familiar one to you, I'm sure." Hiiro smirked. He pulled out a disk and handed it to Une, who quickly placed the software into her desktop and projected its information into the screen on her far office wall. The image that popped up was one of eleven women and a single male. The women were all clad in similar sailor outfits, and Une immediately recognized the silver haired intruder by her unique hairstyle. The single man in the photo was dressed in an old-fashioned tuxedo, top hat, cane, and cape all included. Her jaw dropped when she saw the date of the picture.

"1992?" Her voice was a barely audible whisper. Hiiro simply nodded. "This picture is five millennia old…"

"Flip to the next slide. It's a video of them." Une did as requested, and her eyes widened as she watched the eleven women and one man on the video clip create a dazzling light show around what appeared to be a… thing. A monster was the only way Une's imagination knew how to describe the creature they were fighting in the video.

"These are the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask. They were famous superheroes in the 1990's who showed up to stop a wave of supernatural monsters from taking over a city called Tokyo. They faded into the background around 1994—the attacks on people slowed and eventually stopped all together, and the scouts were never heard from again. They were considered heroes of their time."

"And is that woman, the intruder, the same girl who is in this video?" Une breathed.

"It appears so. Barring the fact that the girl in the video has blonde hair, and our intruder has silver, but that might be expected after how many years? Une, I don't pretend to understand this, or even care to make sense of it. But the reality of the situation is that we have one of these Sailor Scouts, over five millennia old, sitting in our holding cell and claiming that one of these same monsters is responsible for Relena's death. The truth is it's so farfetched it can't be made up."

"And this… Sailor Moon… she wants to do what exactly?"

"She wants to help. She called herself an ally. Said she's our best chance at this point. According to her one of her old enemies, one of these monsters she used to fight, is responsible for everything—Relena, the unrest, even the problem with our agricultural pathogen is connected apparently. She came here in order to warn us what's to come."

"And you really believe she's not crazy, that she's a superhero? Hiiro, are you seriously telling me you believe this?"  
"I have to. I know what I've seen. She's waiting just outside the door Une. Sailor?" Hiiro directed his voice toward the door this time. The brass knob turned and in walked the skimpily clad woman with the silver hair.

"Hello Lady Une. I am sorry that we have had to meet under these circumstances. In fact, I am sorry we had to meet at all. But I do want you to know I am here as a friend to the Preventers. I have come in peace to try to protect what little of it is left. I know it's hard to believe, but please, hear me out." Une paused, glanced at Hiiro, then nodded slightly.

"Alright, what exactly did you come here to warn us about?" Serena drew in a deep breath. Hiiro watched as she calmly inhaled, drawing the large red bow in front of her up and down. Her slim, white-gloved hands moved from her sides to frame the gold heart-shaped locket that rested on her breast. Delicately, her hands seemed to will the locket from her bow to hover in-between her hands and both Hiiro and Une gasped.

"Instead of me telling you what you are up against, I believe it will be far more potent and helpful to show you. Please, relax. I promise I will not harm you." Serena's calm voice somehow seemed to sooth and relax Une and Hiiro. They both felt their body weigh become lighter as their eyelids became heavier. Slowly their eyes closed all together and when they opened them Hiiro and Une found themselves floating in a dark, starless patch of space. They stared into oblivion until what seemed to be three figures appeared before them.

"Hey! Where are we?" Une yelled to the people. She tried to run towards the people, only to find her legs would not move. Hiiro simply stood and placed a hand on Une's shoulder.

"Watch. We're here as observers, nothing more." As their eyes focused in the dark the tension in the dark atmosphere hung thick in the air. Before them stood the woman they had come to know as Sailor Moon, dressed in a flowing white gown with a crescent moon glowing on her forehead in place of her tiara. Large what wings flowed from her back as an angel might carry them. In her hands she held a sword, and as the figure in front of her came crashing down upon her. The woman who attacked her dressed in an all black suite similar to that of the Sailor Scout's outfit. Her long black sword crashed against Sailor Moon's as a battle of wills occurred before their eyes. The evil woman's black bat-like wings stretched out in an intimidating wingspan as she brought blow after blow upon the princess.

"I will have every star seed!" Her rage emanated hate and disgust for the angel-winged girl she was trying to destroy.

"That must be Chaos." Hiiro muttered under his breath to Une.

"Please stop!" Hiiro and Une flinched as swords continued to clash. Hiiro had a strong urge to run out to assist the beautiful princess who stood before him, yet he knew that even if he tried it would do no good. They were merely trapped watching the memories of Sailor Moon. The evil woman screamed as her one final time as she brought her sword down hard on the princess.

"The sword!" Sailor Moon breathed. A bright flash that made Une and Hiiro wince produced a tiny girl in a school uniform who floated before Sailor Moon where once her sword had been.

"She's just a child!" Une screamed.

"Now no one can stop me!" The redheaded woman known as Chaos laughed as she made a final advance toward the Princess, who huddled the tiny girl in her arms.

"No, you're wrong! Nothing is gained by fighting because we end up hurting each other!" The tiny girl the Princess had been holding faded before Une and Hiiro's eyes, and Une let a sob gasp from her mouth.

"Just a child…"

"I'm sorry Chibi Chibi…" The Princess sobbed openly before her opponent, only disgusting her further.

"You don't have a soldier's courage or pride, do you?" The Chaos screamed as she swung her sword. The black magic that seemed to spill from the sword directly hit the Sailor Princess, and her beautiful dress became nothing but pink ribbon shreds, leaving her cold and naked body exposed to the full brunt of any attacks still to come. The only thing that shined was a crystal that pulsed from the center of her chest—the same crystal Hiiro knew Sailor Moon had used to bring them here in the first place. Still, after registering her bare form, he felt as though he should avert his eyes. And yet he did not. Hiiro needed to see the full outcome of the battle between good and evil.

"The world can't be protected by someone who can't fight. It's because of your weakness your friends are gone!" Chaos now lorded over the frail and trembling scout.

"How many others do you think died first?" Une whispered to Hiiro. Black thunder crackled and flung out from Chaos directly towards the stripped and winged woman who's arms flung backwards as her body was racked with pain. Yet through her pain, she still called out in what Hiiro and Une could not believe sounded like friendship.

"However hard my fate shall be, I will keep looking for you!"

"The only thing left is to surrender your shine and perish!"

"I won't give up because I believe in the world I love." She seemed to pause to draw in a pained gasp. "The world everyone tried to protect… and that there is a small glimmer of hope left in your heart!" With her final push of words, the crystal that shone so brightly in her heart shot streaks and beams of blinding white light out in all directions. The beams came faster and faster and the naked Princess pushed off the black thunder long enough to propel herself forward with her white wings. Extending her pale, thin arm fully she grasped hold of Chaos' own hand. For a moment the two women, who had just been in battle with each other, held still in time. Chaos held nothing but surprise and shock within her facial expression.

"Hiiro, look at her!" Une nudged him to turn his attention to the blonde woman with the crystal heart. "Her face…" And it was true. There was n malice written on the Princess' face. Every line and muscle was relaxed and peaceful. Her pink lips were gently upturned in a slightly serene smile, and her eyes held nothing but love for the woman who was trying to kill her only moments before. Her compassion made Hiiro's breath catch in his throat and he found it hard to breathe at that moment. His eye stung with the hot glaze of tears. Such compassion he had thought he would only ever see in one woman's face. And here it was yet again, only on a grander scale than anything he had ever seen before. She was, in every way, the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.


	15. Game Plan

Chapter Sixteen: Game Plan

Une and Hiiro had to shield their eyes this time from the explosion that occurred before them. As the two women's hands remained clasped together, Chaos became lit from the inside out with bright yellow light. Her red hair suddenly broke free from its clasps and flowed freely about her. The black sailor costume she had sported melted away leaving her as nude as the blonde angel-winged savior. Une felt Hiiro shift and her gaze followed his arm as he lifted it to point towards the sky. A black, inky shadow had diverged itself from around the woman they had thought to be Chaos. Twisting and writhing, as if in agony, the shadow slinked itself back into the depths of space.

As the dark matter disintegrated before Hiiro and Une's eyes the clouds parted and they suddenly realized they had never left the planet. As the storm clouds that surrounded them parted ways the blue skies peeked through, with the sun shining brighter than any sun they could ever remember seeing. The now two naked women remained floating in the sky, surrounded by crystal fragments that had been spit out as the dark mass had exited the Earth's atmosphere. Hiiro reached out and tried to grasp hold of one of the crystal shards, only to find his hand went straight through the glowing jewel. Still, it was an incredible sight.

"Thank you Sailor Moon. Your shine lit up the galaxy with that very warm, sweet light." The dark figure who had undergone such a transformation now smiled sweetly at the beaten Princess before her. Her dark red hair now shone multi-tonal gold to auburn. The scowl on her pretty face had been replaced by a heartfelt smile. Then she looked apprehensively into the clearing sky. "Is Chaos gone?"

"I think it went back where it belongs." Sailor Moon thoughtfully gazed into the sky as well.

"Back where it belongs?" The formerly possessed woman looked to her comrade in question. Hiiro's ears perked up. If Chaos had left once, where had it gone?

"Yes, back into people's minds." She smiled brightly, but the gold and auburn haired woman frowned. Hiiro frowned as well. What the hell did that mean?

"Then it's not gone forever." This only made Sailor Moon's eyes shine more vividly than ever. They radiated warmth, joy and hope towards her worried friend. Even though it was nothing more than a memory Hiiro could literally feel her soul exuding compassion. Une's breath caught in her throat.

"Let's believe in them: the people who live their world. Please don't worry! The Light of Hope is in everyone's mind." Hiiro smiled slightly to himself at her conviction in humanity. It was such a blast of refreshing air to see someone so tainted with fighting and war still with such strong hope and faith.

"How strong you are Sailor Moon. But what I did was irreparable." The sad smile former-Chaos gave Sailor Moon spoke her true sorrow for her actions.

"Sailor Moon, she's so much like Relena." Une calmly mumbled to Hiiro, a single tear threatening to escape her left eye. She felt Hiiro nod, though his eyes never left Sailor Moon's glowing form.

"Let's do it all from the beginning, it's not too late! Please guide the Star Seeds so they don't get lost!" Sailor Moon threw her arms wide to the air and the crystals around Hiiro and Une began to not only glow pink and gold, but hum with energy as well. With that, the woman whom Sailor Moon had freed became nothing more than a blinding form of pulsating energy that flew into the distance, with the crystals following her in a tail of sparkling shards.

"Do you think she knows she's naked?" Une whispered, not knowing how to break the heavy silence. She giggled at her own words, yet the thought elicited no reaction from Hiiro other than his typical grunt.

"Hnn." His eyes were still trained on the white-winged woman who floated effortlessly within the crisp air.

"Everyone, I hung in there. But I'm lonely." She gazed up straight into the heavens with tears forming in her crystalline blue eyes. Bringing her arms around herself, Hiiro watched her tremble. He realized she was speaking to her comrades, the other Scouts, who must have perished in the battle. "I'm not that strong." He heard her whisper. "I'm alone everyone!" She suddenly cried out into the atmosphere. A single tear fell. Hiiro half expected to hear her friends' voices call out to her and comfort her, tell her she wasn't alone after all… yet no one answered the tragic angel's call.

The next time he blinked Hiiro found himself and Une staring at the Sailor-clad uniformed version of the woman they had just watched expel Chaos. She smiled sadly at them.

"Her name was Princess Galaxia. She was a Princess from a distant universe whom Chaos possessed. She came to Earth and began to devour people's Star Seeds, souls for lack of an easier explanation. And when I exercised Chaos from Galaxia, she made amends by helping to guide the Star Seeds back to the people whom she had stolen them from. This time, however, Chaos has not yet chosen a body to inhabit. She remains a mere shadow, a dark presence that is spreading across the land. She will stop at nothing to make life on Earth as miserable as her life trapped in the Galaxy Cauldron. In other words, Chaos wants to bring chaos to this world." Serena finished short of saying anything else, letting the events of the day sink in for both Preventers before her.

It had been an easy decision to allow them to see her final battle many, many years ago. It was, in her judgment, the best way to explain the situation without having to deal with disbelief. Seeing was so much easier than simply believing for some people. Her level of vulnerability was magnified slightly, that was easy to admit. Those memories, even though it had been a while since she had visually relived them, had haunted her as long as she had been alive. They were with her every day—every time she glanced at the moon, every fog she walked through, every cake she baked, every prayer she said, and every couple she met reminded her of her friends and their sacrifices for her. Seeing it all again in real time was painful, even after so long. But it was a weakness she could not show to others. Especially not to Une and Hiiro as she was trying to guide them through what could easily be the toughest battle of their lives.

"So, Sailor Moon, you stopped her once before. How can we stop her this time?" Lady Une finally asked.

"We'll have to wait for Chaos to take a form, unfortunately. There's not much we can do until she chooses to reveal herself to us. Still, simply because she hasn't possessed someone yet doesn't mean we won't have our hands full stopping her. Hiiro, you heard what that monster said." He nodded.

"'An outpouring of the evil spirit among humanity will manifest itself as their greatest fears— famine, plague, war and death await the human race!' But what did it mean?" His voice, though dark, was also incredibly unwaivered. Serena briefly quirked an eyebrow in his direction, but said nothing about his static composure.

"What monster said this? The one that attacked Duo?" The leader of the Preventers pieced the puzzles pieces together, finally recomposing herself.

"Yes. That was a warning to you, to all of us. Chaos is going to attack the human race with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Famine, Plague, War, and Death." Serena informed them darkly. Hiiro shuddered. After seeing such warmth and within her eyes in her memory, he noticed that her current gaze was a far cry from her old cheerful self. Time had taken its toll on this lonely Sailor: it seemed she had become withdrawn and separated from the world around her.

"Hence the reason you claim that the agricultural phenomenon with the oxysporum is not our fault." Une rationalized. "Well, I'm glad to be exonerated from that offense. The people of the Earth never would have trusted the Preventers again had we not noticed someone creating such serious bio-weaponry. Still, how can we combat these Four Horsemen?"

"Search and destroy missions." Hiiro bluntly stated. "We find them, we kill them. Simple."

"Not that simple. They'll probably be immeasurably strong… Chaos herself is no spring chicken when it comes to creating worthy adversaries; of this I am sure. I know a man who may be able to create a device to find the Horsemen, but even if he can it will take him time I am sure we don't have." Serena's head dropped, her gaze focusing on the floor beneath her.

"We can always buy ourselves more time. If there's so much as a possibility this man you know will be able to create a locating device, we should take that chance. It's our best option at this point." Hiiro spoke quietly, but with force and authority. It seemed he would have to be the one to carry the belief that humanity would survive this. How strange.

Only a month ago if anyone had asked him if he believed in the goodness of humanity, he would have said no. After all, the vicious cycle that was humanity used fighting and war to reaffirm their existence—how could he have faith in them to retain peace forever? But they had been doing so well as of late. That was why he had been in the graveyard the other night with his gun… because he had found he had no way to affirm his own existence without fighting. Peace had made him useless.

But, he had to think, had Relena been there that night… one look into Relena's eyes and his answer would have changed. He would have screamed yes from the top of his lungs. But Relena was dead now. Never again would he look into her sea green eyes and feel comforted the same. Never again would he catch a whiff of the shampoo she used on her honey colored locks and become light-headed. He was lucky Serena had been there that evening. She had stopped him from repeating his attempt at ending his life; for good or for bad he now found himself useful once again.

Watching the memories of such a small girl dressed in a strange Sailor outfit had restored his hope that her might have something to live for after all. There was something about the determination in her eyes when she had refused to give up on the possessed woman she was fighting. Something about the passion she had shown in saving humanity… it had all led him to an epiphany. There would always be another savior, another who's fervent hopes for the world and those who lived in it would save them. He had thought Relena was unique, one of a kind. And yet here Sailor Moon was demonstrating that it was possible for there to be more than one benevolent liberator.

The silver-haired woman who stood before him was very different from the blonde who had been in her memories. He wondered what it would take to restore her own faith in humanity. He had already lost one innocent to fate; he did not want to be responsible for another death—even if she already seemed to be living as a walking corpse. If there was not someone around to remind him of humanity, Hiiro knew he would once again feel lost. He would forget there could be multiple bright spots in the world and once again he too would become nothing more than a vacant shell.

"Alright then. If you think that trying to bide our time is the best game plan, then that's exactly what we'll try to do." Serena nodded taking Hiiro's cue. "Une, the best way to stall Chaos would be to give her exactly what she wants. I hate saying this, but it might actually help to let the rioting continue a little longer, and at the same time you may even have to sabotage the Preventers themselves by spreading the rumor that we don't have enough food to go around. Let Chaos have her chaos. We'll go see if my friend can create these locating gadgets we'll need."

"You're asking for a lot. I'll try to hold back as long as I can on spreading the rumors—once people hear that we have no food stores things really will take a turn for the insane. Famine itself can't be far from here laughing at us at this point." She straightened her navy blue suite jacket and patted her hair smooth. "Still. If this is what we must do, then we will do whatever it takes to appease the beast until it swallows the poison."

"Good. Hiiro, do you need to grab anything before we take off? We need to get going."

"Plane or automobile transportation?" He questioned, getting down to business and shaking his deep thoughts from the forefront of his mind.

"Well, I usually run, but somehow I don't think that will be fast enough with you in tow…" He glared at her sharply and she gave him a half smile "I'm sorry. I don't mean to insult your level of physical fitness, I'm just saying I usually run over roof tops in leaps and bounds— unless you're me that's kind of difficult."

"Can't you fly?" Hiiro asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Do you see wings right now?" Serena asked him.

"No… but you had them in your memory." She pursed her lips, then bobbed her head side to side as if weighing out her options in her head.

"I'd rather not unless I have to. We're not crossing any bodies of water, just going to the outskirts of town." Was her final verdict.

"My motorcycle then."

"Fine." Hiiro simply moved to open the door to Une's office without any more words. Serena followed in suit and together they walked down the narrow hallway towards the Preventer's main offices.

Once again Hiiro directed Serena through the large intake room that was bustling with noise and movement. As they walked past, Serena noticed the stares that the office employees were so conspicuously shooting in her direction. Wanting to roll her eyes and tell them to grow up, she bit her bottom lip instead. They wouldn't know any better; there was no reason to be frustrated with their gaping. And she _was_ wearing an incredible costume in their perspective. Like a duck letting water roll off his back she simply made a firm attempt at training her own gaze to Hiiro's back, which was moving quickly and fluidly through the messy room.

Stepping outside Serena breathed a sigh of relief. There really had been a moment—just a moment was all she was willing to admit to herself at least—where she had actually thought Hiiro might now believe her. She found herself unconsciously rubbing her wrists through her white elbow length gloves, trying to remove the tangible memory of the restraints she had been in only an hour earlier.

"I don't have any helmets." Her thoughts were broken by Hiiro's monotone voice.

"That's fine. I don't expect you want to crash your bike; I'll trust you to just drive on the safer side?" She offered a small smile to convey tentative trust.

"When you get on, be careful you don't let your legs rub against the exhaust pipe—you'll regret it."

"What's the exhaust pipe?" Hiiro stared at her for a moment, furrowed his brow, and then pointed to the metal pipe that ran to the inside of where she assumed her feet would be propped during the ride. "Oh. Alright then." She shrugged his arrogance off and waited for him to warm the bike up. He turned the key, shifted the bike into gear, and the engine roared beneath him. Once he was ready, he motioned with his head for her to jump on behind him. Serena quickly placed her right foot on her foot peddle and threw her left over the seat. Once she sat, Hiiro turned around and glared.

"You'll have to sit up closer to me, this bike is going to go fast, and if you aren't holding on you might get left behind in the street. Not to mention you'll throw my balance off." His point, though valid in her mind, made crimson creep into her cheeks. He turned back around and waited for Serena to grasp onto his waist and make a sincere effort to hoist herself up closer to him.

"Better?" She asked, yelling over the rumbling engine.

"Better. Directions?" He remained facing forward, eyes vacant as he was ready to receive her input.

"We're headed to the outskirts of the Cinq Kingdom—take the Old King's Highway till you hit the Devil's Fork, veer right at the fork and get off at the Sanctum Road exit. You'll head into a small town—just go straight through the town and I'll tap on your shoulder when we get there."

"Sanctum Road? I know where that is…" He never glanced back at her as he spoke; she barely heard him over the noise of the machine below them.

"There's an old cemetery up there." Serena carefully let slip. She was still weighing out in her mind how much she should tell him.

"Hold on." Hiiro roughly warned her as he quickly picked his feet up off the ground and the motorcycle began to glide onto the road. Serena wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his back, getting used to the sensation of the foreign vehicle.

As the gravel beneath them became paved cement, Hiiro allowed the motorcycle to vibrate through his body, soothing and relaxing every muscle. Fresh air whipped at his face, briskly flipping his hair in every which direction it could possibly fly. His mind, tired with laden thoughts of monsters and Sailors and Chaos emptied slowly. All that he focused on was the road beneath him and the growing pine trees that flashed by as they picked up speed. Even at a mere seventy miles an hour he had to watch every twist, turn and bump closely—but that was what made the cycle so thrilling to begin with. It was not a car that sheltered him from nature; it was a method of transportation where he became one with the road and had to take into consideration even the slightest change in environment.

And slowly, his body took into consideration the slightest change of movement within the petite figure who held onto his waist so tightly as well. Her thin spindles wrapped around the midsection of his torso and her gloved hands clasped tensely together, holding on for what he assumed was a fear of flying off backwards. He inwardly smirked. She had every reason to be wary—he was going at a breakneck speed down a dangerously curving highway with looming pine trees on one side and a deep ravine on the other. If she was to fly off now, he doubted her magic would help save her life.

This very thought switched his smirk to a frown. Magic. How could he, the Perfect Soldier, have fallen for such a ridiculous claim? Yet he could not dispute what he had seen. He could not deny what his eyes had confirmed the gut instinct his heart had lurched at so easily. A silvery pigtail swept forward in the wind and caught in the periphery of his vision. The long strands gleamed nearly white in the sunlight. She was such a mystery. Sailor Moon. Was she even human? Were the hands that were around his waist truly of his world? His body at that moment became very aware of her own lithe form pressed up against his back. He could feel her tight legs squeezing into the bike. Her chest as it rose and fell softly in rhythmic breathing. Her forehead as she rested it carefully against his body, using him as a shield from the whirling current of air that swirled stingingly toward them. Yet for all the crisp air, she radiated and transferred her warmth through their contact into his body. Hiiro felt the blood rise to his cheeks and his breathing quickened. This was the fastest ride he had ever taken. Looking down at his speedometer, he realized he was now only driving closer to sixty miles an hour. Shaking his head and grimly trying to clear his thoughts, he once again stepped on the gas bring them back up to seventy. There was no time to slow down when the events around them were speeding up so exponentially!


	16. What Defines a Person

Chapter Seventeen: What Defines a Person

The non-existent grains of sand that rubbed between her eye and her drooping eyelids made her eyes water. Unable to wipe away the falling tears because of her fear of falling off the racing vehicle, Serena had given up to simply closing her eyes and hoping the ride was over soon. She has thoroughly enjoyed the ride up until the point where Hiiro had stepped on the gas and pushed their speed past eighty miles an hour. At this rate she had left her sense of adventure clear behind her, and her heart had jumped into the pit of her stomach. Nausea poured over her in waves as she tried to remind herself it would all be over soon. Feeling the bike sway left, then lean hard right, the blood rushed from her face as she paled to a sickly green color. Flittering her eyes open to see why they had turned, she was somewhat relived to see that they were now on the off ramp of the freeway. His speed had considerably dropped. As they entered the small town Serena smiled through her queasy sensations and took a deep breath. They were almost there.

Hiiro was not surprised the town looked almost uninhabited. In times like these he understood people would want to stay at home and protect those they loved. Seeing no one on the streets was probably the best sight there could be at this point. The post office was closed, the grocery store looked as though it had been mobbed. The glass windows of the smaller stores were boarded up. The bank had no closed sign up, but Hiiro imagined that it too was locked up and closed as the rest of the stores in town.

Feeling the Sailor's head lift from his back, he momentarily felt a loss of warmth, and attributed it to the fact that it was a chilly late afternoon, especially with the added wind factor on the bike. The crisp air seemed to be taking small bites at his exposed skin; little needle pricks all over his flesh. Then he felt the small arms around him tighten and loosen again in a quick squeeze.

"Do you see that large church on the end of town?" She called over the rumbling of the bike. Hiiro narrowed his brow.

"Yes." Mentally, he screamed: 'I've been there!'

"That's where we're going." Serena had almost no time to react when Hiiro slammed on his breaks and the bike skidded to a squealing rubber-burning halt.

"There?" His voice was so dark that for a moment Serena felt her breath stolen from her very lungs.

"There." Her reply no louder than a whisper sent the chocolate haired time bomb off.

"Who are you?" He snarled, still no movement—not even his head turned to face her. He sat staring straight ahead at the church. His voice still held the monotone growl.

For a few moments Serena sat with millions of thoughts flickering throughout her brain. Her slight terror of the man in front of her was not helpful in limiting those thoughts either. Still, once she found her voice, even she was surprised with her answer.

"I am who I am." The bleak finality in her voice shocked both of the riders into another moment's silence.

"That's the last time I will ask you that question." She blinked. Hiiro's voice had lost the anger and threatening pitch and somehow become softer, even though his words still lacked any outright and apparent friendliness. Without replying, Serena simply swung her leg over the bike and jumped down onto the street. Hiiro followed in suit and soon the two stood facing the church.

"You've known me the whole time." His words were so quiet she barely heard him.

"I'm glad I did." She continued to stare straight ahead.

"Why?"

"I knew you were open to possibilities. The same curiosity that brought you back here the next morning after the graveyard also let you believe me long enough to let me live while validating my claims. Anyone else would have just assumed I was crazy and locked me away without another thought." She paused. "Plus, you would have really scared me with that gun." She finally cocked her head to the side and gave him a small half grin. Hiiro simply continued to stare at the Latin inscriptions on the church.

"Nice costume." He finally said. Whatever Serena had been waiting for, that was not it, because her fake half grin became a full blown laugh attack right on the steps of the church. Hiiro simply looked down at her, not at all sure if he should be as amused as he was truly finding her laughing, or more angry at himself for not putting the pieces together sooner, or more threatened… For that one moment, he decided, it was contentment that washed over him. Standing beside the giggling girl-Sailor, in front of this massive church, with no one else around them in the cool dusk air. And wistfulness… he found himself not only content, but wistful that he could not always feel so fulfilled as he did right at this moment.

He had a purpose. He had a comrade. He had peace.

But only for that moment. Serena's laughter was cut short by the large wooden doors of the church squeaking as they began to open from the inside. Hiiro brought his stoic expression and mind back to the reason they had returned to the church and focused on their task at hand.

"Sailor Moon?" Hiiro quickly recognized Jed, the man Serena the orphanage owner worked with. "It is you! I worried she had gotten to you! Come in, come in! Get in here quickly!" He ushered them inside within seconds, and putting all his strength into his arms he slammed the large, heavy doors behind them and secured the wood and metal latch across them.

"Hello Jed, how are things here?" Serena breathed as she sent him a sad smile.

"We're all fine, a little antsy, but doing okay for now. No problems with the children—even Jacob and Charles seem to be getting along."

"Really?" She asked skeptically.

"Really. Brilliant, letting them go to the store together… I'm not sure what happened; they came back with two shopping carts full of food, half beaten and streaked with dirt, grins across their faces like madmen. They've been inseparable ever since."

"Good. Sometimes it takes some strange situations to make you realize how similar you are to your enemy." Serena spoke with no smile etched in her face, a sign Hiiro took to mean she was not happy that it had taken this specific situation to fix the problem. He understood her reserves at celebrating the boy's newfound friendship, and he barely knew them—or her it would seem.

"I take it you've told him about yourself if he's here?" Jed turned to more serious matters, fully catching the undertone of Serena's words. He sent a glare toward Hiiro that chilled even the Perfect Soldier's weathered bones.

"Somewhat. He knows who I am and about Chaos, and that's all that's important now. Jed, we came back because…"

"I know. When you left, I thought about it myself. Duplicating Nephrite's locating crystals has been a challenge for me, but I think I have something close." Jed turned on his feet and began to walk toward the alter.

"So prepared, thanks so much Jed!" The silver haired woman grabbed Hiiro's forearm and squeezed it gently. She felt him flinch, then relax realizing she meant him no harm. "This is great, now we don't have to wait that long to see if it's even possible to make them."

"They'll be able to tell us where these horsemen are?" Hiiro let his train of sight follow Jed's robed form towards the front of the church.

"Yes. They should be able to help you locate the demons you're looking for." Jed replied to Hiiro's question as he returned to the two. "I have two of them, but only one really works well. The other simply alerts to something in the vicinity. It was the first a made, and I hadn't figured out how to make them pinpoint a monster. Frankly, I'm surprised I even had enough power to make them."

"Was it draining?" Serena asked him, concern etched in her eyes.

"I slept for a while after the first one, but the second one wasn't as hard to make once I knew I had made the first." His grin was ear to ear, Hiiro snorted. Obviously the blonde man was impressed with the fact that he had made these crystals. His mind flashed back over how the Sailor had used her crystal to transport himself and Une into her memories. Were these crystals as powerful? Was that how she had her power? Could he harness that power if he were to use the crystals? And what if these were to fall into the enemy's hands… what type of situation then would they be looking at?

"I'm glad they weren't too much trouble for you to make; thanks for even thinking so far ahead Jed." Serena gave her friend a warm smile. He bowed deeply in response.

"Whatever I can do to help, you know that Serenity." Hiiro watched her smile become forced within seconds.

"I still remember the day Nephrite was branded a traitor by Beryl and Zoicite. There was so much blood; he was lying on Molly's lap in the park… She cried for days after he was gone, but Zoicite just picked up where he had left off sending Nega-monsters. Nephrite sacrificed so much that day; not even Beryl's wicked spell could take from him the goodness at heart. Just like you. I only wish I could have helped him, Zoicite, and Malachite more before things spiraled out of control."

"You did what you could." Jed responded quietly. "Even when you found me I wasn't ready to accept all you had to say. It just takes some more time than others. Chaos is one such example. You've done it before, you can do it again."

"Chaos was never killed before." Hiiro stated roughly. Following the conversation was tricky: he was only barely glimpsing scenes from their long lifetime full of memories involving people and battles he had no concept of. Still, he knew at least that he had most definitely seen Chaos was alive at the end of the Sailor's last battle.

Serena turned to face Hiiro. Jed said nothing, yet sent him another piercing glare. Hiiro made a mental note of the glare, but chose to ignore any retaliatory facial expressions. Stoic as ever, he simply held his ground and waited for a response. It never came.

"I think we'll stay here tonight Jed. It's getting dark outside, and I would rather get one more night of rest before we really start getting deep into the middle of all this. What do you think Hiiro?" Serena completely sidetracked from their conversation.

"Fine. Teach me how to use the crystals." His stare made Serena want to crawl out of her skin. This was not a request: it was an order. However behind her Jed let out a short, loud snort.

"He thinks he can just 'use' them? Serenity," before he went any farther the silver haired woman held her hand up to pause him mid speech.

"Absolutely Hiiro. You should know how to use them." He nodded, this time choosing to send the glare he had been withholding straight toward the robed Jedeite. He watched as the co-owner of the orphanage paled momentarily, then simply returned the favor.

"Okay, it's very interesting watching you two have a stare-down and all, but really?" Serena had had enough. Since the moment Hiiro and Duo had walked into the church there had been tension, mostly coming from Jedeite's overprotective behaviors, between the men. They reminded her of the grownup versions of Jacob and Charles. Some things about men would never changed she supposed. The thought brought a smile glint of hope to her mind. It was nice to be able to count on human nature sometimes. Neither man said anything as she extended her arm and hand out, palm up, in silent request of Jed's crystals.

He placed the cool black stones in her hand and nodded. "I have to get back to the children anyway. They were coloring—but it's about bedtime for the younger ones. These days it's harder to get them to settle down without running around outside. I suppose it's worth their safety though." Bowing to Serena, nodding in a forced polite fashion to Hiiro, he turned quickly on his heels and stomped towards the front of the church to the side door which led to the attached buildings. "I assume you're sleeping in here?" His voice echoed across the grand and empty stone building.

"Yes." Serena confirmed.

"I'll leave what you need at the door then. Good night." Were his last words before leaving the two polar opposite soldiers alone.

For a moment no one spoke, then Serena sighed. "Alright, let's go over this so we can relax." Hiiro nodded, fully in agreement. He hadn't slept since Relena had been shot. Maybe an hour here or there, but even he was running on threadbare nerves without proper rest.

"These are locating crystals. Funny, they used to be used to locate me." She smirked. "It's how my enemies would know where to send monsters to attack me. And now, we'll use their own weapon against them. Thank Selene for small favors, right?"

"Hn."

"Well. Anyway." She wasn't going to let his mood faze her. "To use them, place the crystal in your palm." She gave him one, and took the other for herself. Holding her palm upright, crystal lying nestled within her tiny gloved hand, she checked to see that he was following in suit. Hiiro hesitated momentarily, then held his hand out as she did. It made him feel somewhat silly looking. As long as it got the job done he supposed.

"This is the tricky part. You have to will the crystal to center in on what you're looking for. In other words, you have to concentrate and focus on what you're heart desires to find. You may even have to close your eyes." She did so as she spoke, and Hiiro watched her relax. Her body fell loose, yet her face scrunched up in concentration. He lost sight of what he had been doing and simply paid attention. Around him he could feel something moving. Nothing stirred. The sensation was that of the force of gravity as he raced forward in his mobile suit, or even on his motorcycle. It was the force of energy streaming towards him and swirling invisibly towards the Sailor and the crystal. His eyelids felt heavy. They shut and he found that instead of simply seeing the black insides of his lids, he saw much more. Stars in the galaxy spread out vastly before him. There was a large star chart in the open space, and the glowing outline of the wheel spun faster and faster. Soon it became a picture, a scene. Depicted was an emaciated green monster with swarms of locusts crawling all over his body. Dead fields spread out behind the monstrous form. As quickly as the vision appeared, it was shattered as he opened his eyes.

"Did you see that?" Serena curiously blinked in his direction.

"Yes."

"Good. Try it yourself now." Hiiro took one look at the crystal in his palm and concentrated.

"Oh wait, only one of these does that! I'm sorry, here, switch!" She looked a little sheepish at her forgetfulness, but Hiiro simply shrugged and traded gems with her. Closing his eyes, he tried to focus on what he wanted to see. The monster. He even knew what it looked like… brown and green swarms, buzzing everywhere, devastated fields. He saw nothing.

"Hiiro?" Serena ventured softly. "You've been concentrating on this for two hours. Had it been so long? He couldn't believe it.

"Hn."

"It's okay not to see it. You might not even be able to truthfully. I thought I should let you try, but honestly? It might be something more than—"

"Because I don't do magic." She pursed her lips together.

"Maybe." He unceremoniously handed the black rock back to her. Jed had been right to snort at him, and he had been foolish to try. Hiiro was beginning to get a useless and restless sinking feeling deep within the pit of his stomach. Serena seemed to note this and tucked the crystals away carefully. "Bed?" She ventured with a soothing tone.

"Hn."

"I'm going to assume that was yes." She motioned and they both looked to see Jed had been true to his word and placed a few cots and blankets beside the door.

With their beds set up, Hiiro sat on the end of his cot and watched the Sailor putting out the candelabras lit around each of the ten stone archways that ribbed the inside of the stone temple. He noted each column had a different colored banner, each gold embroidered with one of the ten planetary symbols, including the Earth and the moon. He watched as she stopped at each, said a few words under her breath, then put out the small flames with quick and full breaths of air. Finally she stood in front of the banner with the moon and bowed her head gracefully. Delicately she tapped the locket centered on her chest and in a dull flash of white and pink light the Sailor was in normal clothes. Turning back towards their makeshift beds, she shot him a fake smile.

"I am what I am."

"What are you?" He asked seriously.

"You promised not to ask me that anymore, remember?" Her voice chimed in the crisp air.

"I said I would not ask who you are. What are you?" His fingers grazed over his gun. Though he did not appreciate what the gun itself represented, he drew comfort from what he was used to and what he knew. He had to—in light of all this insanity around him.

"I am Sailor Moon, Champion of Justice and Love, and in the name of the Moon, I will punish the bad guys and right all wrongs!" Her voice switched. She sounded like she had practiced that speech many, many times. "At least, that's who I was. But I've been so many different people I suppose that's only part of what I am."

"What else have you been?" His voice was not threatening, but neither was it welcoming. Serena found it oddly comforting that someone actually wanted to know about herself. And he didn't want to know for business reasons. And he didn't want to know out of curiosity. He really just wanted to know. For fact's sake. That type of reasoning didn't come her way very often.

"I've been a teenage girl. A daughter. A friend, a girlfriend, a mother. I've been kidnapped, saved, died and reborn. In fact, died multiple times. But I'm still here. I've been a Princess, a Queen, a time traveler, a warrior and a savior. I've been a student and a teacher. And now I'm a product of all those things. I am no one, because I am everything."

"How old are you?"

"Old. Depends on where you start from."

"The beginning. What were you first?" She sighed, not out of exasperation, but more to prepare herself.

"I was born on the Moon." His eyes flickered, but his face did not form a surprised or shocked expression, so she continued. "I was Princess Serenity what feels like eons ago. And it really was. I was born at least ten thousand years ago. That part of my life was short lived—my friends and I lived in peace until our universe was attacked. With the destruction of our races we were sent to be reborn in the future, hopefully in a peaceful time. But the enemies that attacked once and been stopped regrouped and returned in my next lifetime as a human. I went from being a teenager failing tests in the 1990's to a superhero. I wouldn't call myself that, but I sure would call my friends that. That was the era I showed you in my memory. After my friends were killed by Chaos, I slowly faded into the background of history. Fate played out differently than I had ever imagined. I began this orphanage before the colonies were even a dream in people's minds. Jed and I have been repenting for humanity here, as best we can by trying to improve future generations. But I have always watched and waited. Always been on guard. Chaos will never die.

"That's why Jedeite shot you that look earlier. It's sometimes hard for even me to understand. But the way you have to think about it is this: Chaos is in everything around you. If a butterfly flaps its wings here, then around the world there is a storm with crashing waves. One small event can trigger several other larger chain reactions. Like ripples in a pool. They begin small, and grow larger. Chaos is that little nagging evil voice in every person's head. She is their evil subconscious. And one little evil thought or deed might go unpunished for a while, but millions of people with millions of bad ideas are not going to calm the ripples down. If anything together they will make a large splash. The bigger the waves and ripples, the more spread out they become, until they fade away. Chaos simply wants to let the Earth and humanity fade away until she has swallowed all that is good. But to kill her would leave the universe empty. We can never destroy the Chaos, we simply have to figure out a way to reign it in."

Hiiro listened in silence. Her voice melodically soothed his muscles to unwind. But her words. Touched him. In a deep place he hadn't been sure he even had: his heart. He understood what she meant when she said she was a product of all that had happened to her. He felt the same. And he understood what she meant about Chaos being a necessary evil. The way she described everything was so relatable. Everything was so clear, so matter of fact. Not in a report sense but in a deeper soul-bearing significance.

"Serenity. Serena. Sailor Moon." His velvety low voice hung dangerously in the remaining soft candlelight. "All names. Titles. But what are you now?"

"A woman who only wishes to see humanity at their peak in every aspect." She softly whispered. With her head tilted down, eyes trained on her hands that settled uselessly in her lap. "What are you?"

"A man who seeks redemption."

VVVIIVVV

AN: So the last few chapters I've tried to pick up the pace and failed. Lol it's harder than I thought! But I tried to make them fluffier to appease people too. I think Hiiro's character isn't as dark as he should be because of that, but I was watching GW (hell yeah, it's on youtube folks!) and he really is a softer inwardly. I'll try to address this in the story… anyway, I'm trying to post a ch every weekend so keep me in mind! -Vixen


	17. Famine

Chapter Eighteen: Famine

"Serenity. Serenity… I'm here to claim your life!" Serena shot up in the darkness, clammy palms and beads of sweat across her forehead. It was… just a dream… Since Chaos had confronted her she hadn't slept. And now, when she finally closed her eyes to rest, Chaos haunted her. Nightmares about her friends and their deaths, nightmares about her devoted love dying before her eyes, nightmares of her own death to come. Chaos had given her a three day ultimatum to either kill or be killed in her sleep. There was no point in dwelling on what she knew she had not accomplished, yet still her mind could not allow her peaceful rest with the lingering thought that she might be slain in her sleep.

"Nightmare?" She gasped quietly and flicked her head to the side to see Hiiro sitting on his cot and staring at her. His cold oceanic eyes pierced through the darkness and gleamed directly at her.

"Just a wild dream." She brushed it off, not wanting to alert him to weakness that she was trying desperately to hide from him.

"You've been tossing and turning for an hour, screaming names. Just a dream?" He refused to move, refused to break his stranglehold gaze. It made her numb on the outside; stomach churn on the inside.

"Just a dream." Serena craved a glass of water to wet her dry mouth. "Nothing more."

"Who is Darien?" Hiiro watched her eyes light up with a mixture of shock and sadness.

"Did I say that aloud?" She whispered. He nodded. Serena rubbed her eyes and then moved to hug herself. Drawing her knees into her chest, she wrapped her thin arms around her legs and curled into the tiniest human ball she possibly could. She had to find a way out of this question and answer game. It was as if Hiiro knew everything about her, and she nothing about him.

"Who was Relena to you?"

"The Vice Foreign Minister."

"Liar." Hiiro narrowed his eyes, Serena narrowed hers back. "I was there when they moved her out of the Preventer's headquarters. I was there at the Winner mansion when everyone was mourning. And I saw you never once shed a tear or look sad. If I've ever seen anyone hide their true emotions you would be the very definition of it."

"She was the one who brought peace to this universe, to Earth and space alike."

"She brought you personal, internal peace." He said nothing. In the dark Serena saw his face fall.

"She tried. For a while she did." Serena was silent for a moment, then couldn't help but ask the question she had been wondering since the day they had met.

"If she meant so much to you, why were you in the graveyard alone that night?"

"You have no right to ask that!" He snarled. She drew back, then quickly snapped forward and met his hateful gaze straight on.

"I do, since I'm the one that stopped you from suicide that night, I have every right to know." He paused.

"You?" His body shook with realization.

"Me." She nodded in confirmation. If he wanted to play this game, then she would be a good sport and bite back hard. "Why were you there? You had someone that loved you, and that you loved in return. What more were you in need of? What was lacking in your life that you needed to resort to such a disgraceful tactic?"

"Who is Darien?"

"I can see we're stuck between a rock and a hard point. Alright then, good night Hiiro Yui." Serena cut their conversation off by swiftly laying back down and turning her back toward him. From his cot Hiiro could no longer see her face, or the tears that silently began to sneak past her defenses.

"Oh Darien." She whispered. He barely heard her, yet her words told him all he needed to know about who Darien had been to her. Allowing himself to fall back into his pillow on the cot beneath him, he closed his eyes. A single tear escaped from the corner of his right eye.

"Relena." Then he shut his eyes and tried to nod off for just a few more hours of unrestful sleep.

IIIOIII

"I'm glad to see you two up already." Jed reluctantly poked his head in the door, then brought his whole body through when he felt it was appropriate to enter. He found Hiiro cleaning his gun quietly, still sitting on his cot from the night before. Serena was Kneeling at the alter of the church, hands resting gracefully in her lap. She was not in prayer, but meditation. When she heard Jed's words she glanced up and gave him a feigned smile.

"Good morning to yourself as well." Serena responded.

"Hnn." Hiiro grunted. Jed watched Serena roll her eyes and move to stand from her spot on the floor. He held his hand out to help her, but she shook her head and stood of her own accord.

"We're going to find famine today. We already know where it is, we just need to go deal with it. We're taking a Preventer shuttle that Hiiro radioed for early this morning.

"Wow, you've been awake and done so much already this morning!" Jed commented. He watched both Serena and Hiiro send each other small looks—not glares, but blame-ridden glances.

"Neither of us slept well." Serena offered.

"Hnn." Jed glared.

"She doesn't get enough sleep as it is, and you kept her up? Jerk." He muttered at Hiiro. The Perfect Soldier looked up in annoyance, but shied under Jed's icy stare.

"It wasn't his fault Jed. Really. We just couldn't sleep knowing the Four Horsemen are out there and we were resting instead of taking action. That's all. That's why we need to get going so quickly this morning." Around them the sound of a chopper resonated

"Our transportation is here." Hiiro stood and began walking towards the cathedral doors. "Let's go."

"Jed, take care of the kids! Tell them I miss them and care for them very much! And take care of yourself as well; try not to worry too much!"

"Be careful Serenity! I could never forgive myself if you were killed in battle." Jed was solemn. Serena nodded.

"Hiiro, wait, before you open the door!" She called. He paused, hand on the heavy latch. "Moon Cosmic Dream Action!" He heard her shout. Turning around, he had to shield his eyes from the bright white and pink lights swirling around the woman's elegant form. Each piece of her insane costume seemed to weave itself into place through the lights, and when the show was over she stood once more as the Sailor of the Moon. He had to admit, whatever powers she held were simply awesome. Seeing her transformation was complete, he pushed the door open and they stepped into the bright sun.

"Hey you two, need a lift Hiiro?" Tall, blonde hair in two spun braids, and strong in her Preventers uniform, stood Sally Po.

"Thanks Sally." He grunted in acknowledgement.

"No problem. After talking to Une I could hardly wait to meet our newest ally!" She smiled brightly and stuck her hand out towards Serena, who giggled and accepted it warmly.

"Sailor Moon, nice to meet you."

"Sally Po, Preventer Water. I'm so glad I get to meet you Sailor."

"The feeling's mutual." Serena smiled brightly as she and Sally settled into the chopper and let it take off. Hiiro had disappeared, Serena noted as she looked around for him.

"He's probably up with the pilot contacting whoever he needs to." Sally offered seeing the silver haired woman's gaze search for her disappeared comrade.

"Oh, no problem. Just wanted to make sure he'd actually gotten on—I know this will be a fight he'd hate to miss."

"I hear you're quite skilled with magic? Real magic?" Sally prodded. Serena nodded.

"You might say that. I like to think of it as gifted."

"Hn. I would have thought you'd say cursed." Hiiro sneered from the cockpit doorway. Serena frowned.

"When have I ever given you that impression?" She demanded.

"Hnn." He simply took his seat beside Sally and said nothing more. Serena rolled her eyes.

"Jerk." Turning her attention back to Sally, she smiled once more. "It _is_ a gift. Anyways. Preventer Water? You're famous! It's amazing to meet you, really! I hear you're an great doctor!" Sally laughed and clapped the Sailor's shoulder heartily. Serena coughed and bent slightly under the power of Sally's friendly gesture.

"You're too kind!" Hiiro silently rolled his eyes. How could this little silver-haired girl hope to beat any type of monster when she nearly caved under Sally's strength? He might be more needed than he had thought. The weak had no place in true battles. Again he rolled his eyes, this time at himself. 'I sound just like Dorothy, fantastic!' his mind grumbled until he mentally silenced himself and rested his head back.

Sally took note of Hiiro's use of the opportunity to sleep and looked back towards the Sailor in front of her. The woman clad in the warped and frilly sailor's uniform was thin and pale. She sat straight up, back taut with nerves as she shielded her eyes from a blinding sunbeam that shot through the window. Sally assumed this was her first time flying—or being in a helicopter. The thought brought a small smile to her face. Such an innocent, such naivety and delicacy seemed out of place when heading toward a battle. Silver hair and porcelain skin did not belong in the heat of the clash between peace and madness. Sally's sharp doctor eyes also caught the sunken eyes, flushed cheeks, and beads of sweat that barely glistened across the moon soldier's forehead. She and Hiiro both looked as though they hadn't slept in weeks. That turned her smile into a grim line.

"Sailor, will you switch seats with me? I would much rather sit facing the cockpit, it's an old o.c.d trait of mine." Sally asked.

"But the sun…" Serena began to protest.

"Please?" how could Serena refuse? Quickly she and Sally switched. The difference between being in the direct sunlight and shade was instantaneous. Suddenly her eyelids began to droop in the shadows. She fought off a yawn and failed. Glancing at Hiiro beside her, Serena shook her head and tried to clear her blurred vision.

"Relax. Why don't you take a nap like Hiiro? You might as well, when we get there you two will be too busy for anything else." Sally's voice put Serena at ease. One more large yawn, and she decided to give in to Sally's suggestion. Closing her eyes, Serena quickly slipped into a restful catnap.

Sally smiled. She hated to have to wake either of the two youngsters up. Well, she supposed the Sailor wasn't as young as she looked according to data, but simply going by appearances it broke her heart. During her nap, the Sailor had let her head drop to Hiiro's shoulder. Hiiro, who had momentarily been startled by the contact had blinked one eye open. Sally had laughed at how hazy that eye had looked. She wasn't even sure Hiiro had seen anything. Yet he had settled back down quickly, even bringing his arm up to rest his hand protectively upon the Sailor's hand. Since then the tow had nearly melded into one person in their sleep. It was the most peaceful she had ever seen Hiiro, and the Sailor looked as though she rarely slept so well. They looked almost dead… Shaking her thoughts from her head, Sally reached out and shook Hiiro's shoulder. He snapped his eyes open immediately but his body stayed perfectly still.

"We're here." Sally's alto voice resonated easily through the cockpit even with the noise of the engines. He nodded, then shifted his focus to the girl who lay upon his shoulder. Looking down at her, his arms, her arms, their bodies, he frowned.

"Wake up Sailor." Hiiro made sure his voice was cold and harsh.

"But mom, I don't want to go to school today." His voice did not faze her in the least. Rolling his eyes in annoyance, he pulled his arms away and shifted to the side, letting her fall flat onto her face into the seat he had previously occupied.

"Ouch! Rei! No fair!" Serena mumbled and barely moved. Sally burst out laughing. Hiiro grumbled, but shook the slumbering girl's shoulder hard. Finally her head popped up.

"What? Oh, What's so funny Sally?" Serena awoke to find Sally bursting at her seems with laughter and a very unamused Gundam pilot shooting daggers at her. Trying to avoid looking at Hiiro as much as possible, she focused on Sally.

"You!" Sally breathed through her mirth. Suddenly Serena didn't want to look at _either_ of the people in the chopper.

"We're here." Hiiro told her. He had given up trying to be cold and simply become attentive to his mission.

"Let's do it!" Serena nodded her head in confirmation and stood. Only to smack her head into the chopper ceiling. "Ouch." She fell back into her seat. Sally burst out laughing again, and Hiiro simply ignored the situation and jumped out of the helicopter. Serena shook her head and followed him, careful this time not to bang her head on either the ceiling or to have the rotating blades clip it off all together. She'd be of no help to anyone decapitated.

They watched as Sally and the chopper retreated to a safer position farther off and looked around. The hills, if they could be called hills, were rough and jagged. The wind blew harshly at them, whipping small amounts of sand at their exposed skin. The landscape was arid and harsh. What vegetation was around had been completely demolished by crawling insects that littered the ground and filled the air. The dead ones crunched as Hiiro stepped forward, and Serena shuddered. Simply seeing the bugs made her skin crawl.

"We're in the Kaimur Hills of India. This is the location you gave for the monster Famine."

"Okay, well, it's got to be around here somewhere then." They both simultaneously shielded their eyes and searched for an enemy that was supposed to be close by.

"Looking for me! I see you prey!" The high-pitched scream landed on their ears harshly. A large brown cloaked figure appeared in a dust cloud of millions upon millions of locusts. It's green face had large hoppers crawling all over it—in and out its mouth, through its nose, down from the hood and over its cheek. Large brown wings came down in a powerful flap and settled to its back.

"There it is!" Serena yelled. Hiiro grabbed his gun and immediately readied to fire.

"I am Famine, the first of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse! And you, Sailor Moon, are going to be crushed under my swarms!"

"I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of the Moon, I will punish you!" Serena yelled as intimidating as she could. Hiiro almost laughed. He had heard that speech once before, but it sounded so ridiculous! Couldn't she come up with something better? Or just not say anything at all. He almost laughed with the monster.

"I don't think so! Now that we've begun to eliminate the world's food supply nothing will stop us!" The monster screamed. Beating its wings together roughly, it created a high-resonating shriek that made Hiiro and Serena both fall to their knees in pain. "How do you like my crepitation attack? Suffer Sailor Moon!"

"Ahh!"

"Urgh." Both fighters could barely move, much less focus with the sound rattling their brainwaves.

"Get them my little babies! Attack!" The monster screeched. Six-inch giant locusts swarmed around Serena and Hiiro, encasing them in more of the same sound. Itching and batting against the massive insects was little to no good.

"Hiiro, we need to take it's wings out to stop that sound!" Serena screamed when she got as close as she could to Hiiro.

"Mission accepted." He grunted. Ignoring the locusts as best he could, he took off running for the monster.

"No! Hiiro, don't get that close!" Serena screamed. "Ahh!" Several of the largest locusts attacked her face, one crawling into her mouth. Little bug wings and bug legs scrapped over every part of her body as she cried out in terror of the bugs.

Hiiro, managing to escape the largest of the bugs, came face to face with the Horseman. The monster simply laughed and pulled its hood down to reveal nasty short antennae upon its forehead. "If you think my children are easy, wait until you deal with me!" It bellowed. Hiiro was amazed. He could _see_ bands of energy being drawn toward the antennae, and how it was then sent back out in waves of shocking electricity. He felt the lightening bands wrap and weave around his body, sending volt after volt of charge currents through his muscles. Spasming mid air, he fell to the ground in a lump.

"Hiiro!" Serena screamed. She took off, trying to beat her way past the hordes of hoppers. Stumbling forward, the Horseman took its aim from Hiiro and directed it towards the Sailor.

"Die Sailor Moon!" It hissed. With its wing-snapping attack the giant wings beat together furiously and produced the high-pitched ear bursting sound once more. This time Serena stayed on her feet, which frustrated the monster considerably. "Fine, not enough? Have a little taste of what I gave your friend!" Energy pulsed towards her, and Serena fell crippled by both sound and shock.

As she fell, Hiiro looked up. Blood trickled from his right ear; he smelled his singed body begging to fall over and remain down. Yet his eyes focused on their target. Muscle seizures aside he quickly and deftly brought his gun up to aim at the wings. Taking sight of the wing membranes which were rubbing together and creating the popping sound, he let all six shots pump straight into the back of the monster.

"Ahhh!" It let its attack on Serena up as pain rippled through its robed form. Hiiro stood and made his way through the flying creatures to Serena, who still lay on the ground. As he reached her she was beginning to re-gather strength.

"Thanks Hiiro." She labored.

"Not enough to beat me!" The Horseman of Famine, one wing bent and hanging in an unnatural position, leapt straight at the two soldiers. Hiiro stepped forward and threw a punch, only to be thrown aside as though he were one of the locusts. The Horseman fixated its intentions upon the Sailor and wrapped long green segmented arms around her body. Attaching its feelers to her head, it gathered energy and sent the voltage directly into her brain. Her screams hurt Hiiro's ears. Those were the screams of someone in true agony.

"Sailor!" He growled. Reloading his gun as fast as he could he took aim again at the wings. Two more shots and the entire broken wing fell from the creature's back. That bought him enough time to run back and drag Serena's prone form from Famine's grasp.

"Sailor? Serena?" He shook her. Had the electricity addled her brain?

"Uhh… anyone see the Gundam that ran over me?" She asked. If he hadn't been so relieved to hear her humorous words he might have rolled his eyes. "Hiiro, you should step back, I'm going to take it out. Permanently." He had a shadow of doubt buried within his heart, but he still helped her stand and then took a step back, allowing her the space she had requested.

"Famine, I will not allow you to starve my people. It's over." Her determination surpassed her pain in that moment. Grasping a pink scepter with a red handle she whirled it around in the air swiftly and assertively. "Rainbow, Moon, Heartache!" She called out. Hiiro felt her energies collect into the rod and spill out towards their enemy in the shape of a yellow chain of hearts. If he hadn't seen it he never would have believed it. The chain encircled Famine and though the locust Horseman fought to escape, there was none. Slowly the chain suffocated the monster, finally smashing it to dust and obliterating the remainder into dust.


	18. Spoon Full of Sugar

Chapter Nineteen: Spoon Full of Sugar

For a few moments neither soldier felt they should move. Serena breathed heavily, arm still poised high in the air, weapon in hand. Hiiro stood behind her a few feet; gun barely clutched in his fingertips. Slowly their minds refocused and returned to the present moment at hand. Serena dropped to her knees, releasing her grip on the pink and red scepter. It tumbled into the dirt and then melted away. Not even noticing the grasshoppers which had fallen dead around them, Hiiro crunched his heavy foots steps towards her.

"Famine destroyed, mission complete." His deep voice rumbled behind her. He watched her numbly nod.

"Hey you two! That was amazing!" Sally's voice seemed so far away. Hiiro turned to see she was coming towards them from behind a rock outcropping and offered his hand to the Sailor in an attempt to help her stand. When his hand was ignored he looked down at her once more. Serena had yet to move from her kneeling position atop the brown locusts.

"You alright?" His voice did not hint at concern. His eyes, however, were suddenly checking her figure over for any life threatening injuries. Blood red liquid tricked from the corner of her mouth. Laying a soft hand upon her shoulder in a comforting manner, he made an effort to reassure her she was still alive. Perhaps she had been too fragile and gone into shock…

Serena yelped out in pain as Hiiro's light touch rippled muscle spasms throughout her body. When she opened her lips to cry out not only did her pain become clear, but she spat out a mouthful of blood upon the ground. Within seconds Hiiro had knelt before her and cupped her face within his calloused hands. Her eyes were glazed over and sweat beaded her forehead. The rusty stench of blood tweaked his sense of smell. When had she received such serious injuries?

Without warning he felt her body lurch forward, gag and convulse in a series of seizures. The absolutely look of horror etched on her pretty features sent shivers up Hiiro's spine. Just as Sally reached them Serena finally blew her stomach contents upon the ground in front of her. On the ground in her puke lay a twitching, brown, six-inch locust.

"Shit!" Hiiro exclaimed. Snapping into action he tightened his hold on his gun and fired a round into the chirping bug. It finally lay still.

"Oh my god!" Sally had to turn away before she lost her own constitution. Serena collapsed gasping for air. Hiiro dove for her and managed to at the very least support her head from hitting the dusty and grasshopper-covered ground.

"Sally!" Hiiro clipped, his eyes shooting daggers in her direction. "Hospital."

"Right away, let's get her to the chopper!" Sally swallowed hard and pointed in the direction she had just come from. Hiiro nodded and picked Serena's transformed figure up and made his way swiftly towards the propellers he could make out in the distance.

"Load her up, let's get going!" Sally cried. She gave quick orders to the pilot and the chopper was off the ground before they had settled into their seats. "Hiiro, lay her out on the seats, let me look at her." Sally ordered. He followed directions and sat behind Sally as she once-overed the unconscious girl.

"I never saw that happen." He blinked incredulously.

"Neither did I, and I was watching the whole thing. She doesn't have any serious external injuries that I can see. She bit her tongue, but that's to be expected with as much electricity as went through her body. You probably did too I'm guessing?" Hiiro nodded in affirmation. "As I said, very common with electrocution victims. Still, with that locust inside of her? Who knows what internal damage it did. And it was still alive when she puked it back up too!"

"Chances?" Sally was taken aback by his coarse sounding voice.

"I really can't say at this point. I'll have to do a series of x-rays and scans before I know for certain." Suddenly Serena's eyes shot open. The endless blue orbs that shined before them were riddled with pain and confusion.

"Stay still Sailor." Sally tried to sooth her. Still, Serena began to flail about, rubbing and scouring at her skin violently. When she opened her mouth only silent shrieks were produced. She spit up more blood, and continued to scrape and scratch, her nails breaking through her gloves and leaving red trails across her flawless skin. Sally tried with little effect to hold the girl's arms down. "Hiiro, we need to restrain her! It'll do us no good if she pulls her skin off before we can get to the hospital."

"Hn." Hiiro pushed Sally aside and shoved Serena into a sitting position. Grabbing her from behind, he encircled her with his taunt arms and effectively halted her insanity. Though she kicked and fought him with all her might, Serena soon tired. Still coughing up blood occasionally, she had little left in her to fight back against Hiiro's strength. He felt her body go limp and knew the silver-haired woman had finally fallen to her injuries. Still, he pulled her closer. Sitting her upon his lap, he leaned back against the side of the chopper and left his arms protectively around her.

"We should be there soon Hiiro. It looks like she won't give us any more trouble, but sometimes shock patients aren't aware of what they're doing. Keep a close eye on her. Fifteen more minutes."  
IIIOIII

"So I hear this is the chick that saved my skin." Hiiro tried to ignore the long brown braid that flicked his cheek as Duo entered the room and stood beside him.

"Aren't you supposed to be resting?"

"Come on buddy, not like Hilde will let me out of this hospital! She's freaked out about more monsters attacking! The very least you can do is fill me in while you're stuck here too!" Duo whined. Hiiro fought the urge to roll his eyes at Duo and eventually rationalized that his comrade had a point.

"It's the same girl. She uses energy attacks to defeat her enemies."

"But I thought they were magic attacks? Is she for real?" Duo blinked and stared at the strangely clad woman lying peacefully in the hospital bed. The doctors had not been able to remove her Sailor uniform, so Sally had had to treat only what she could visibly see. Duo's eyes took in the sight of the frilly bows, multicolored skirt, gold and ruby tiara, and oddly shaped meatball hairstyle—all part of the woman that had supposedly saved his life. Not too bad if he didn't say so himself. "I could have done a lot worse for a savior huh?" He let out a short laugh. "Don't tell Hilde I said that! I'll be in this hospital permanently! But real magic Hiiro?"

"Hn." Hiiro closed his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest, leaning back into the chair he was perched on.

"I'll take that as a yes. Wow. Did a grasshopper really come out of her stomach?"

"Yeah." Hiiro confirmed.

"Well boys," Sally walked into the room and stood at the foot of Serena's bed. "Looks pretty good actually. Her stomach was fine, just a few rips and tears here and there in her throat that we were able to stitch up easily. She's only out because of the medication. I just hope when she wakes up she won't be too mentally disturbed. She seemed so distraught on the chopper."

"Good." Hiiro nodded. Sally smiled tiredly.

"Doctor Po!" A voice down the hall called out frantically. Sally's smile was completely demolished.

"Surely there's not another one!" She stammered. Now Hiiro and Duo both zeroed their focus in on her fear-stricken face. The man who had called for Sally rushed into the doorway a moment later, breathing hard through a flimsy white mouth and nose mask.

"Sally, it's another. High fever, headache, muscle aches and pain, nausea, and swollen lymph nodes." She paled.

"Start antibiotics right away! Tetracycline: 400 milligrams."

"Right!" The man nodded in confirmation and took off back down the hall.

"So Sally, want to clue us in?" Duo jumped beside her in a heartbeat and placed his hands on his hips. His quick movements caused him to wince in pain from his still broken ribs, but did not deter him from sending his devious glare. Hiiro stood and simply reiterated Duo's request through his silence.

"We've been getting a rash of patients recently with similar symptoms. High fever, headaches, nausea and muscle weakness." She answered slowly.

"And swollen lymph nodes?" Hiiro clipped. Sally turned her eyes from the Gundam pilots. She couldn't look them in the eyes to tell them.

"I've seen two confirmed cases of the bubonic plague, four of septicemic plague."

"What!" Duo shouted. In her bed Serena mumbled and rocked her head back and forth. Momentarily all three standing and healthy people in the room looked over at her, then lowered their voices and returned to their conversation.

"What's the difference between the two cases?" Hiiro asked.

"Bubonic affects the lymph nodes, septicemic attacks the blood stream itself. If left untreated both produce high mortality rates—one to fifteen percent in bubonic cases, one hundred percent mortality rate if left untreated in septicemic cases. I have an entire wing of this hospital quarantined as we speak. The only reason I'm not there is because I was with Hiiro and the Sailor when they brought the first patient. Une suggested I'm more of a help on the outside of the quarantine than I would be on the inside."

"That's horrible!" Duo shuddered. Hiiro frowned and stared toward the bed again, then without taking his eyes from Serena's prone form opened his mouth.

"It's the next Horseman, Plague." Duo blinked, Sally lowered her eyebrows in confusion.

"Plague? Horsemen?" The braided boy snorted. "What the hell's that all about Hiiro?"

"I guess this is what Une was trying to warn me about?" Sally breathed. Hiiro nodded.

"It's the next enemy Chaos has sent. First Famine; now Plague. It will only get worse from here—War and Death have yet to show their faces." He turned to Duo. "You've missed a lot. Go to the Preventer's Headquarters and ask Une to fill you in. You need—"

"Duo!" Somehow that tone made Duo want to shrink into the floor. "Duo Maxwell, what are you doing out of bed?" His wife stood before him, children hiding behind her legs, one giggling at their mom and dad; the other silent. "Oh, hi Sally, Hiiro. Duo! Get back to bed, now!" She roared.

"Hilde, can't you see I'm needed? Too much is going on! I can't lay in bed and hope everything passes us by while I'm not feeling great!" Duo sighed in exasperation.

"Duo I can't let you go back out there! You saw what happened last time you fought a monster. Why do you want the chance to repeat that? You have a family to take care of now!"

"Which is exactly why I have to go more than ever Hilde!"

"If you go and don't come back, what will we do then?"

"I'm going to come back!"

"What if you don't?" Her words were barely more than a whisper. Their escalating volumes lowered instantaneously. Barely over the noise both parents heard one of their daughters cough violently. Hilde and Duo looked down towards the twin hiding behind Hilde's left leg.

"Kalei, are you feeling alright honey?" Hilde knelt beside her daughter and placed her hand against her forehead. Quickly she snapped it back as if she'd touched a hot stove. "She's burning up!" Sally and Hiiro exchanged looks and Sally quickly knelt beside the girl.

"Hey Kalei, it's me, your Aunt Sally. Can I look at you for a second baby?" Kalei stood still and allowed Sally to reach out and gently poke her neck. "Does anything else hurt Kalei?" The little girl shook her head no.

"Kalei, this is really important." Duo got down on one knee next to his daughter. "Does anything else hurt?"

"No." She whispered.

"She has a headache! And her arms hurt. She told me so!" Kory burst out. "And she has an itchy on her foot!"

"Kory! You said you wouldn't tell! Daddy says he doesn't hurt, so I don't hurt either!" The little girl sniffed. Then she coughed again and reached down towards her foot, scratching a little red and irritated spot on her skin.

"Not good. She has a fresh flea bite." Sally frowned and Duo paled. He grabbed his daughter and held her close to his heart.

"No." His voice trembled, and Hilde fell to her knees.

"What?" Concern played across her face so plainly Hiiro could have seen it a mile away.

"Septicemic plague." Sally shuddered. "We need to get her antibiotics right away. Hilde, have you been anywhere in the day or so?"

"We've been here—not even home." Hilde froze. The plague? Sally shook her head.

"Somehow. Maybe it's this hospital. I'm not sure quarantine would have ever helped. But she has it. The flea directly bit her, her symptoms match. And Hilde, you and Kory have been exposed. And now Duo, you're holding her. You'll all need to be moved right away." She paused. "I'm so sorry Duo, I don't know what else to tell you."

"No…" Hilde breathed.

"No!" Duo yelled simultaneously. He smashed his fist into the ground beside him. "How! My family! All I've ever wanted to do was protect them…" A warm hand gently rested upon his shoulder. He looked up and his eyes met a sight that instantly sent a peaceful wave of reassurance through his dreary outlook.

Above him warm indigo eyes shimmered with determination. Silver hair reflected the static yellow hospital light, setting an ethereal radiance about her entire form. Her cherry lips offered a delicate smile of hope. The Sailor soldier of the Moon stood beside him, lending him strength and courage he had momentarily lost in his despair.

"Have no fear, Duo Maxwell. We will stop this Plague before it spreads its destructive path through your family. I promise you, by Selene herself, we won't let anything happen to you or those you love." All he could do was gulp and nod in agreement.

"Sailor." Sally breathed. "You're awake!" Serena turned to her and smiled.

"Yes, thank you so much for your help. Everything I heard about you being an excellent doctor is true Sally." Her smile wavered slightly. "And I can unfortunately promise you that by the end of this we will need your help quite a bit. But right now it's Kalei that needs you the most."

"Sailor." Hiiro could hardly believe this was the same woman he had carried to the chopper hours earlier. She seemed completely healed—not a scratch on her. And her poise and grace was not that of the frantic shock victim he had had to restrain. Somehow she had battled within herself and won control back. Impressive. Perhaps she was not as weak as he had feared.

"Hello Hiiro. Ready to get going? We can't stand here and let Plague rip families like the Maxwell's apart any longer than we already have."

"Locate the next target." He brought the black locating crystals from his pocket and placed them in her hand. She smiled gently. Closing her eyes, Hiiro followed in suit. Sally, Hilde, and Duo watched in amazement as the black shard began to levitate within the Sailor soldier's hand. But they were not privy to the visions of space and stars that bombarded Hiiro and Serena mentally. Within moments the two opened their eyes.

"Bruxelles." Serena stated calmly. Hiiro grunted.

"The President!" Sally shuddered.

"Milliardo Peacecraft's in Bruxelles." Hiiro added deftly. Serena snapped her head to look at him sharply.

"We need to get there, now!"

"Take the medic shuttle that's on the roof. Getting through the riots will take too much time." Sally offered. Hiiro nodded.

"Duo, get well." He looked down at his braided comrade, who's violet eyes shook with anger, fear, and worry. He had never seen Duo look so beaten. Winding his arm back, he launched it forward and decked Duo as hard as he could, fist to face. "Get a hold of yourself. Or I'll be forced to take you out as a liability." His cold, harsh words made Serena gasp in horror. Hiiro glared at her, and she stopped. Was he… smirking at her?

Duo sat stunned for a few seconds, then broke into laughter. "Thanks buddy. I'll see you when you get back. Don't forget, you're Kalei's Godfather, so you're obligated to do all that I can't to protect her right now." Hiiro nodded.

"Mission accepted. Let's get going Serena."

"Serena?" Duo fell over. "You mean the chick from the orphanage? What'd I tell you about freaky pictures that went on for decades and tombstones with creepy epitaphs!" Hiiro now openly smirked, and Serena let out a short laugh.

"I thought I looked good in some of those pictures, thanks!" She interjected. Then she turned to Hiiro and smacked his head. Everyone in the room went silent, stunned at her bravery. "Idiot. It's Sailor Moon." Even Hiiro stood silent for another moment. Once he shook his head out of its clouded thoughts he growled at her.

"Hn. Let's go." He would not allow her to point out his mistake. He was only human after all.

"Don't worry Kalei, all we need to get you is a spoon full of sugar, and you'll be feeling better in no time, I promise!" She called as they stepped out of the room and rushed down the corridor.

IIIOIII

"…not responsible for the Vice Foreign Minister Darlian's death. In fact, the Preventers are at this time certain it was neither the Earth or the Colonies or any faction of either."

"Milliardo, does this mean there's still a rogue assassin on the loose?"

"Who will the assassin target next? What are the Preventers doing to bring him to justice?"

"What type of punishment will the assassin receive?"

"What were his motives?"

"At this time there are still a good many of those…" Milliardo paused, trying to focus his vision. Suddenly he had a splitting headache. These people! They were the monsters! Vultures cashing in on his sister's death! It made him sick to his stomach. Breathing in deeply, he re-centered his concentration. "A good many of those questions still remain unanswered. We have no motive as of yet, nor any intelligence of another follow-up target."

"What about suspects? Does that mean you have a suspect?"

"At this time I am not at liberty to discuss the ongoing investigation much farther. I am now on my way to speak with the President of the ESUN. We will be holding a joint press conference tomorrow at noon. Thank you." Milliardo stepped down from the stage and tried to ignore the heat from the spotlights and flashing bulbs from the cameras snapping picture after picture. Glad to be able to hide behind the curtains surrounding the stage, he took the glass of water Noin offered him and drank it greedily.

"You did well. I'm surprised no one asked you about the food shortage."

"That's what tomorrow's press conference with the President will focus on; I'm sure they just want to hear bad news." He shook his head.

"People love a good story full of dirt. When has the news ever has that many good stories?" Milliardo had to admit she had a point.

"Still." He went to sip his glass of water again, only to tip it to his parched lips and find it empty. "Damn. Noin, do we have any more water? It's so hot in here." She smiled at him.

"Of course. Those lights can be hot—of course, pressure never helps. Still, you look more shaken than normal. You're usually so collected with this type of situation, what's eating at you today?"

"I don't know." His breathing labored. "To be honest I'm not feeling that great. I thought it was the mere idea of going out in front of those vultures, but I have to admit it may be more." Noin stopped filing through the stack of papers she was holding and turned her full attention towards her husband.

"You do look clammy, like you have a fever." She reached up and gently tapped the back of her hand against his cheek. "Zechs, you're burning up!" She frowned.

"Noin, don't give me that look, it doesn't suit you. I'm sure it's just lack of proper rest. With all that's been going on, it's been little or no stop."

"No. This is different. You really don't look good. Let's go back to the hotel room and get you bed."

"For once I won't…argue…" A loud coughing fit racked the Lightening Count thoroughly. Noin dropped her papers and slid up next to her husband. He allowed her to support his weight. "Noin, I…need…rest…" He collapsed.

"No Zechs!" Noin cried out, worried and frantic. "Someone get a doctor!"


	19. Purpose

Chapter Twenty: Purpose

Wufei cringed as he grasped his katana firmly in hand. Sweat poured down his brow, small drops of the salty liquid trailed into his left eye; forcing him to blink and try to rub it clear. Licking his lips he could taste the saline that had dried on his lips. Blood made his left arm sticky and his instinct for the first time in many years was to turn tail and run. This enemy he was fighting was not normal.

The people, who had once been pushing and shoving in the lines behind him for food and supplies now ran around him in mass panic. Screaming, sobbing, frantic bodies flailing in ever direction made his task more complex. There was no option to run and escape, to regroup and recoup. This enemy he stood before… it was impossible. It was up to him. It was his soul responsibility to care for these colonists and make sure that he was the only target—the only life—that was put in a compromised position.

Before him stood four looming hags. Long black robes ripped to shreds and entwined with gold embroiderment swirled in the tumultuous human wave that seemed to have erupted around them. Large metallic wings in copper and bronze extended from the four women's shoulder blades, the rustic metal screeching and squeaking as the wings flexed in show of power. Feathered arms and legs ending in sharp talons twitched with anticipation of movement. Their noses were slightly beaked, and fangs peeked out from beneath curling lips. The monstrosities of life that stood before Wufei were terrifying to even begin to imagine—and yet they still stood living and breathing.

"Blood! Give us blood!" One of them screeched. Her voice made Wufei wince; like nails on a chalkboard their voices grated on his nerves from the inside out.

"We are thirsty! Mortal, feed us!" Another bated nervously beside her fellow bird-women comrades.

"Your blood calls to us!" The Chinese man blanched. Already these devils has managed to wound him deeply on his left arm. He was sure they had sliced down to the bone across his forearm and knew he would be lucky if no major tendons had been severed in the process. He still had movement in his fingers, which was a promising sign. But how could he deal with these monsters? Stall. At the very least learn information to pass along to the next person to fight such creatures.

"What are you!?" He screamed in outrage.

"We want your blood!"

"We are the Keres!"

Finally one of the four women took a frontal approach. Her hopping and wing-clicking made Wufei take two steps back for every move she came forward. Her beak separated, and her gritty voice cut through the screams in the air with shrill deftness. "We are the Children of Death! I am Thanatos, these are my siblings, Moros, Nemesis, and Apate. We are here to feast upon your flesh!"

"What the hell?" Wufei grimaced. "Well that's fine. Tell Death I said _hello_!" Coming to the conclusion nothing would be gained by standing still and wishing he did not have to battle these opponents, Wufei lifted his sword and charged the Keres banshees straight on. Steel and metal clanged together as his katana matched their talons of bronze.

"Ahh! Mom, help mom!" A little girl cried out close by as she got too close to the battle and got accidentally swiped by a wing. Her body flew several feet and lay crumpled in the street. Instantly the winged-beasts turned their attention from Wufei to the injured little girl.

"Blood!" Moros whispered.

"Flesh!" Apate hopped on her clawed feet towards the little girl. The human child screamed in complete terror. Her shrill octave hit Wufei's core, shaking his soul to the very strings of his heart.

"No! Leave her alone! She's innocent! I'm your opponent!" He sobbed aloud, hopelessly flinging his sword in every direction, hitting nothing but air.

"We feast human." Thanatos preened her ruffled arm feathers, and as her comrades Moros and Apate held the little girl stretched out by her arms and legs. All the girl's squirming did not stop the beaked monster from slicing into her creamy belly.

"Ahhh!" The little girl was still screaming, her lung capacity seemed to have grown in her state of terror and now agony. The bird-women ripped and gashed the innards of the girl to shreds. Blood and the stench of the foul desecration rose in the air around the vultures and their prey.

The fourth bird monster, Nemesis, came forward and began to peck out the girl's eyes. Within seconds red liquid rushed and poured from every orifice. Entrails and organs were no longer packed in neat order—the little girl's liver had fallen to the ground in a dripping stream of dark red blood and her intestines were in-between Apate's beaked mouth. The girl had given her last breath seconds before the worst: Moros had dropped the little girl's legs and gone straight for her heart—wasting no time in pecking open her chest cavity and pulling out the veiny and bloody organ. Squeezing it like a sponge with too much water, the Keres monster drained the blood directly into her mouth, licking her lips in the pleasure of satisfying her thirst.

Wufei stood frozen watching the inhuman creature devour the tiny girl. What enemies were these that he was up against?

IIIOIII

"Hiiro, are you sure it's the plague?" The blonde man in the screen had an expression of pure terror written in his countenance. The chocolate hair boy who sat glaring back at him from inside of a Preventer transport ship nodded in affirmation.

"We're on our way to stop the spread; ground zero is considered Bruxelles."

"And you know Zechs and Lu are there?" Hiiro glared at his blonde comrade, no words were necessary.

"We'll put a stop to the plague, but there will still be two more Horsemen to deal with. With communication limited as we have it, you need to be aware of your colony on a mass scale. Be prepared to alert myself or Une immediately should one of the Horsemen appear." Quatre nodded.

"Of course. You've already spoken to Trowa?" Hiiro nodded affirmative.

"He said nothing to report on L3, and that Une had asked him to handle L2 as well since Duo is here on Earth. Is Dorothy on L1?"

"Yes. I didn't like letting her go so far from me in such dangerous times, but I really had no choice. I have my hands full trying to handle the politics here, meanwhile the rioting on L1 had increased, and Dorothy thought she might be able to lend a hand there more. Wufei is on L5, but I haven't heard from him in a while." Hiiro nodded at Quatre's information.

"The last time anyone heard from Wufei he had finished with the communications satellite and was en route to check out the colony. Trowa should skip L2 for now and head to L5?"

"Hiiro," Quatre's voice conveyed his concern. "Are you suggesting that Wufei needs help?"

"I'm suggesting no one has heard from him."

"I'll contact Trowa right away and redirect him then." The blonde man paused. "Be careful Hiiro, we've never fought monsters before."

"When you reach Wufei let him know his reports being late are unprofessional." Hiiro snorted. Quatre rolled his eyes and managed a small grin. He knew that to be Hiiro's way of saying he didn't like having to worry about a comrade. Or at least, he wanted to believe it was Hiiro's hidden humanity. With the Perfect Soldier there really was no telling.

"I will. Bye Hiiro." Hiiro flicked the button on the keyboard and the screen went dark. The air in the transport ship was stuffy and tense.

Hiiro looked to his right. Serena sat on the other side of the plane aisle, looking down upon the Earth below. She had not been bothersome and tried to listen in to his conversation: he appreciated her obvious attempts to give him privacy in making his contacts and reports.

"The ocean goes on forever." Serena's voice cut through the awkward silence. Her sliver hair framed her pale skin and the soft aura about her intensified.

"We should be there soon. Thirty more minutes." Hiiro answered, unsure of what she expected. There were a few more moments or uncomfortable quiet in the small plane's cabin before Serena shifted in her seat. Turning away from the window she adjusted so her body now faced Hiiro.

"Thank you. For stopping me from pulling my skin off, I mean." She boldly offered. He snorted.

"You're the only one who knows what we're up against. I need you alive and healthy." Serena sat for a moment, then turned back around and went back to staring out the window. Hiiro watched her small form turn away from him and felt a heavy weight smack him from behind. As though he had lost his breath, the air had been ripped from his lungs and his heart wanted to burst. He had never felt such an overspill of this emotion… Guilt was eating him alive.

Breathing in deeply and weighing his options, Hiiro made the decided effort to stand and move to the same side of the aisle as Serena. She cocked her head to see what he was doing and he could read the uncertainty spreading across her face.

"When did that bug, how did it…?" He left the question open-ended not knowing how to complete it.

"Sometime when you charged at Famine and I was swarmed. I couldn't breathe, and I knew all I could do was destroy the monster before it killed us."

"The locust that crawled out of you was still alive." Hiiro marveled. "Your reaction on the chopper was understandable." He slowly reasoned. Suddenly the quiet girl before him broadened a soft smile that sparked from inside her being.

"Thanks."

"Yeah." For a moment Hiiro felt uncomfortable. He shifted impatiently in his seat and finally Serena broke the ice.

"So I know Duo, who are your other friends? I saw most of them when I followed you to Quatre Winner's mansion after Relena's assassination, right?"

"Yes." He started. The pause that came after was a moment of rationalization. She had already seen them, and had been cleared through himself and Une; she had to be trustworthy. "You know Une and Duo. There are four more pilots: Trowa, Wufei, Quatre, and Zechs. You were there to here how we divided ourselves between the Earth and the colonies when Relena died."

"I thought how you did it was brilliant. It's hard to keep the entire Earth and the colonies under surveillance. You had a good plan. Even about Zechs going in as Milliardo Peacecraft, instead of Quatre Winner. Who were the women with you?"

"Hilde, Duo's wife, Dorothy Catalonia was there, as was Trowa's girlfriend Cathy, Wufei's Preventers partner Sally Po, and Lucretia Noin, Zechs' wife."

"Wow. You're lucky to have such great friend Hiiro. You were all so composed and poised when everything went crazy on Earth. It's strange to think that you all kept your cool when everyone else in the world went crazy." Hiiro pursed his lips.

"Lady Une had a hard time. She's not usually so emotional. She was out of character. Even Sally, Duo, and Hilde seem to be more shaken about the turn of events than usual." He confessed. Hiiro had thought of this previously… why were his comrades so seemingly affected by these new monsters? The few monsters and mass hysteria was nothing compared to the Earth being under direct threat of destruction from Libra, and yet… They seemed so much more shaken now than they usually did.

"And yourself? Do you think you're slightly more shaken?" Serena asked, her eyes suddenly burning into Hiiro. He shifted uncomfortably.

"No." She smiled, and he knew she had seen right through him. Well, just the same, he would rather pretend to save face than give in and admit he felt more uneasy in this situation than he had in other tight spots.

"Is this a Chaos side-effect?" He asked. She nodded.

"Chaos makes people doubt themselves. That doubt, even for a split second, is all it takes for her to work her charms."

"How did you wake up in the hospital so lucid?" He bluntly questioned her.

"I'm used to being thrown around and waking up after fighting monsters like Famine. That was easy compared to some."

"Do you miss your comrades?" Serena whirled her entire body around this time. The question presented to her was completely out of character for the solider sitting before her. What had possibly made him ask her such a thing! How dare he ask! Feeling the floodgates of guilt, pain, sorrow, and anguish rush through her veins once more set her ill at ease. Swallowing hard, she glared at Hiiro.

"Why would you ask me that?" He was surprised at the amount of force and hidden poison that echoed in her voice. So the Sailor had a sore spot.

"Have you ever fought such a monster as Chaos alone before? Because in the end, all it seems I'm good for is getting you transported to the monsters. I can't kill them. I don't have your energy attacks, the strength. I can serve as a distraction, but I cannot pull the trigger on these enemies. Are you up to taking on this fight alone?" Serena let her indigo eyes meet Hiiro's cobalt orbs and match him in intensity.

"That is my purpose." She paused. "Saving people is all I have left." Slowly he moved his hand towards her face. Cupping her cheek softly in his palm, he incredulously realized how small she was compared to him. His hand easily spanned her entire face and she seemed like a doll, frail and breakable, in his possession. Serena sat quietly, slightly trembling beneath his warm and careful touch. She could feel the calluses of his hand against her cheek and sensed the strength emanating from his caress.

"You saved me." Hiiro could not manage more than a whisper. To this Serena drew her air in sharply. Her mouth parted and nervously she flicked her tongue over pink lips. Bright blue eyes wide and soft silver bangs only added to the sweet and truly surprised look Serena now held as she stared back at Hiiro. His words had been so melancholy, so bittersweet.

"I couldn't let you die…" She finally whispered back. "Just like you helped protect me from myself."

"Are you saying we're even?" He suddenly smirked, and Serena let out a strangled gasp. She unconsciously rubbed her cheek deeper into Hiiro's palm.

The pilot's voice echoed over the intercom: "We will be arriving in Bruxelles in ten minutes, please return to your seats and return your seatbacks and tray-tables to their full upright and locked positions as we are cleared for descent."

As quickly as it had gotten there, Hiiro snatched his hand from Serena's cheek. He quickly centered himself in his seat and strapped the seatbelt down, hearing Serena do the same as quickly as he did. They sat in perfect silence as the plane began its descent, neither knowing quite what to say.

As they rushed off the plane and into a car parked on the tarmac quickly, a Preventer greeted them with an update on their current route.

"Preventer Zero! Sir! Sailor! M'am!" He saluted them. Serena giggled at his formalities and Hiiro glared at the man, ready to hear what he had to say. "Milliardo Peacecraft and his wife Lucretia Noin have been relocated from the campaign trail to a hospital in Moscow. Mr. Peacecraft was exhibiting signs of extreme distress and illness. Flu-like symptoms and a high fever seem to be the main issues. Moscow had the closest Preventers unit equipped to deal with such extreme cases. Lady Une is aware of the situation and has sent Sally Po immediately. She should be arriving in the next two hours in Moscow. Lady Une requests that you, quote: 'take care of this plague.'"

"Is that all Preventer?"

"Yes sir!" The man saluted. Hiiro had already moved on to his next trail of thought.

"We need this car. Sailor," he looked at Serena, "do you know where we are going?" He watched her nod, and turned back to the Preventer. "You need to evacuate this car soldier." The Preventer simply stared at him. "Now." The Preventer gulped.

"Sir? It's thirty-two degrees outside, and with the wind the chill factor makes it closer to twenty."

"Now." Hiiro glared. The Preventer, at a loss, nodded. Signaling the driving, the car halted a few feet farther and everyone got out of the car and switched positions. Hiiro took the driver's seat and Serena became the new passenger upfront. Nodding in silent thanks to the Preventers he was leaving behind, Hiiro did not stop to question what the other two men standing on the street would do to return.

"That was rude to just leave them there." Serena huffed under her breath. Hiiro snorted.

"They'll be fine, they're from here and are more used to it than their whining lets on. They're soldiers, they've been trained to live." He stopped, eyes her up and down, and a strange, very out of place smile crossed his thin lips. Serena suddenly wanted to escape from Hiiro's vision as he penetrated her with those cool, piercing eyes.

"What?" She flushed.

"Are you cold in that outfit?" He pointedly asked. "It doesn't seem to cover much…" She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Luckily for me, the transformation helps regulate core body temperature, helping me withstand extremes of hot and cold."

"Lucky for me too." This time Serena smacked Hiiro's right arm hard. Her face had become as red and a cherry tomato, and her disbelief that he might ever say something about her risqué costume had been shattered.

"Ass." She muttered. He lifted an eyebrow in Trowa-like fashion at her diction.

"Since when do you swear?"

"Since when do _you_ stare?" She countered. He instantly gave up, knowing fighting her comment would only earn him another smack. He had been around Duo long enough to learn a few key points about how females functioned. Duo. Kalei. Kory. They had to find Plague for their sakes. And now Milliardo was sick as well… He wiped the uncharacteristic smile from his face and replaced it with his serious frown, hoping it would help to focus him towards his goal.

Serena seemed to notice the abrupt shift in mood, and said nothing when Hiiro went back to being stoic. His hot and cold mood swings were interesting for her to observe. He was like a jigsaw puzzle that kept rearranging itself. Eventually the picture would be pieced together, but there were so many pieces that it would take a long time to complete.

Suddenly, an arrow slammed into the hood of the car, causing the automobile to swerve and the windshield to crack into millions of pieces that still held together against all odds. Hiiro slammed on the brakes and he and Serena quickly flung open their car doors to escape the moving metal prison. Drawing his gun and using his open door as a shield, Hiiro looked to the forefront of the street ahead, where the arrow had seemingly come from.

As the smoke and steam from the car and gently falling snow swirled the air clear, another arrow came ripping towards the car. This time it whizzed past the hood and went directly through the windshield, taking the spider-webbed glass down with it. From this arrow a shockwave burst forth, and the energy knocked both Serena and Hiiro off their feet. A cackle in the distance sent them back their feet quickly, and both strained their eyes to see what they were dealing with.

"Sailor Moon at last! I've been waiting for you to find me, Sailor! I'm so excited to have you as my new patient! Chaos said to tell you she'll make sure to visit you on your deathbed!" From the snowy intersection before them a sallow, decaying woman with the body of a horse and torso of a human appeared. Her mangy fur and sickly stench told of rot and illness. In her hands she clutched a bow, upon her shoulder perched a quiver of arrows. Plague itself had found them first. "I am Plague, better known as Pestilence! All who meet me bow in fear of falling into sickness!"

"Hiiro!" Serena tried to whisper beneath her breath. "Those arrows, they're poisoned!" He looked to where she was pointing: the arrow that had originally hit the hood of their car had eaten through the hood, engine, and floor of the car, down to the very Earth.

"You don't stand a chance against me and my Arrows of Ailments Sailor Moon!" Plague screamed at Sailor Moon as she steadied another arrow at her bowstring.

"Duck!" Hiiro yelled out. Serena jumped high just as the monster let the arrow fly. Landing where the Sailor has once stood, the arrow spread out a gaseous spew and the white snow below the air became a toxic brown sludge.

"What shall I give you two?" The Plague laughed. "I think we'll skip over being nice. The plague is good for your fellow humans, but you, Sailor Moon, deserve a special death. What do you say Ebola? Let's liquefy your organs!"

--Sorry this has taken me a while. A month is bad, but I've had lots of school and internship stuff going on, plus it's a huge improvement on a yr! Lol, anyway, review for me! And yes, I PROMISE there will be serious romance coming up! Like I said, I want to make it more realistic than just jump the characters there. And I think I've got a sufficient level of fluff going that helps with the waiting!


	20. Pestilence and Penitence

Chapter Twenty-One: Pestilence and Penitence

"Stay down!" Hiiro barked gruffly at the silver-haired woman who stood a few feet from him. As she dove to the ground an arrow clipped just over the top of her head. She hit the ground and there was no time to pause to even consider how close a call she had just had. Serena grunted in effort as she rolled on the ground and finally managed to drag herself back onto her feet.

Taking a moment to survey the situation, she grimaced. Not good. There were tall buildings surrounding the intersection they stood in—each flat façade of the buildings stared back at her cruelly, taunting her as walls to a fence. She found herself penned in, not necessarily a good situation. There was little in the way of places to retreat and hide, meaning she would have to fight this threat head on, no backing down allowed, even for a moment's regrouping. And the monster Plague itself was massive, the horse's body alone was taller than she was… including the human torso, neck, and head the enemy she was about to face stood nearly eight feet tall. Serena let her eyes flitter between the monstrous creature and Hiiro for a moment, then nodded in self-decision.

"Hiiro, get out of here!" She yelled out. There was no need to put anyone else in harm's way—even a soldier who was trained for battle. This was different.

Hiiro rolled his eyes at her words. "You're getting emotional. I'm not a civilian, and I won't be a casualty." Arrows darted between the two and Serena jumped high to avoid being hit. When she landed, she narrowed her eyes and glared straight back at Hiiro.

"This is not your fight. You're under no obligation to stand here and put yourself in harm's way. You're a distraction." She coldly told him. Hiiro blinked. She dared…. His thoughts were cut-off by Plague as the monster opened its mouth. The Sailor and soldier watched as Plague stretched and contorted its jaw as a light yellow-browned smoky liquid poured out and spread to cover the ground around them.

"What is this?" Serena looked around. She had enough sense to realize inhaling the gaseous mixture was probably not a bright idea; still she had no idea what the actual smog was.

"Mustard gas, don't breathe!" Hiiro yelled, his hand covering his mouth and nose. "We need to get out of here, it causes blisters, blindness, and pulmonary edema!" Serena heard his words and understood. Running towards Hiiro and grabbing his arm, she made no pause in hastily bounding up, as high as she could get, and landing, Hiiro in tow, on the top steps of a large bank building. Turning to look back down at the ground, she was pleased that at least the gas seemed to stay near street level.

"You stay here." She let go of his sleeve.

"What the hell? No way!" He growled. But the Sailor had already slipped away back towards the fight. Feeling useless, Hiiro pulled his gun out and took aim at the center of the intersection, just in case she needed cover fire.

"I'm glad you're still standing Sailor Moon!" Plague giggled in delight. "I love it when I find so much resistance to my viral personality, it's so rare!" The taunting, lilting tone which was condescending and dry struck a chord in Serena.

"Well I'm not going down without a fight, so bring it on!" She grabbed her tiara and whirled around in flashing lights. "Moon tiara magic!" Flinging the glowing white disk as hard as she could, Serena stood still and watched as Plague readied one of her infected arrows and fired at the attack. With a loud crash and clang the arrow brought her tiara to a dead stop and both clattered to the ground. Serena gasped, but had no time to regroup as she was beginning to feel the effects of the surrounding mustard gas. Her skin was beginning to burn and her eyes were watering as though she had just chopped a fresh onion. Her dry, scratchy throat burned and the stench made her nose twitch and nostrils flare.

"It's okay, stop fighting, give in to the gas Sailor!" Plague heckled. "Soon enough everyone will be either infected by the plague or starving anyway! And you know, Sailor Moon," Plague paused as it drew another arrow from its quiver and steadied a shot at the Sailor Scout, "even if you killed me, it wouldn't change who's been infected and who's sick! The beauty about viruses is that they're almost impossible to eradicate once they've infected a certain amount of the population. And I promise you… The entire colony of L2 is living proof of that!"

"What!" Serena shouted in horror. In her shocked state she did not see Plague let go of the arrow it had been holding. The feather and metal-tipped projectile speed toward her at an alarmingly fast pace. A lone gunshot rang out split seconds after the arrow was released. Trapped like a deer in headlights, Serena was witness to an amazing shot as the bullet struck the metallic arrowhead inches from her heart and obliterated it to splinters.

"Sailor, now!" Hiiro yelled. Serena, still in a daze, found her body knew what she wanted quicker than her mind, because in her hand materialized her scepter, and before she knew it she was performing an attack.

"Moon Scepter Elimination!" The power she gathered shot forth in bright pink, red, and white light beams and covered Plague, horse body, human face, bow, and all. Hiiro shielded his eyes, and when he finally looked again all that remained where the streets had been masked in poisonous gas was Serena, alone. She slowly turned, looked in each direction on the city intersection, and finally her eyes landed on Hiiro, who was staring straight at her.

Without any words she slowly climbed the steps toward him. Face to face with Hiiro, her cold sapphire orbs met his with such intensity he felt her stare through his face and into his soul. And then Serena fell into him, tears leaking down her flushed cheeks. For a moment Hiiro dared not breathe, dared not move. Slowly he brought his strong arms up and wrapped them around her heaving form; even going as far as to truly hug and hold her softly to his solid frame.

"L2." She whispered. Hiiro breathed in the scent of her shampoo, the scent of dust, the scent of woman. He hesitated.

"It was the only colony we didn't have anyone stationed. If Duo had been there…" Hiiro shook his head and she felt him finally begin to lean on her in return. "If he had been there he would have shared their fate. Instead his daughter is sick…" Neither could speak after he stopped short. They both stood quietly, holding each other. Finally, Hiiro began to pull away from Serena.

"Come on Sailor, we need to get going. I need to contact Une and Winner, and there are still two Horsemen on the loose." Serena nodded.

"You're right." She patted her silver hair and smoothed her skirt. "Let's get going."

IIIOIIII

"What do you mean 'it's time to face the facts'?" Quatre worriedly cried out in the Colonial Hall. The men around him shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"Senator Winner. Although we do appreciate your valuable insight to the politics of war and peace, and we understand your call for more time, we feel that more time will be problematic. Too many of us see the Earth as a threat Quatre."

"We have no proof!" His blonde bangs shook to their tips with his anger at the men for their impatience.

"We voted to pre-emptively rebuild the military here in space Senator. Voted. I'm sorry, but the majority has spoken, and they've said they fear Earth."

"Senator Dreyfus, Prime Minister, is there no way we can come to trust Earth again? Is there nothing I can do or say to postpone this madness? Relena Peacecraft would never allow the Earth to pick up arms against the colonies! Why now, in these times of uncertainty, would we do such a heinous act and provoke war?" Quatre passionately argued. But his words seemed to be falling on deaf ears.

"I'm sorry Senator Winner. The majority has spoken. The Lunar Base has already begun its production of mobile dolls and suits again. There will be a call to arms, to rebuild our military. All able-bodied men will join for the protection of the colonies. We must arm ourselves in defense. The time for waiting, for Relena Peacecraft's idealism has gone. People are rioting out there! Do you really think that these riots won't lead to worse problems? The unrest on Earth is like a virus that plagues the space colonies. We must arm ourselves with a flu shot, with our weapons, dolls, and suits, only to be prepared to take on the invading specimen. This is the way it must be Quatre, I'm sorry." The Colonial Prime Minister sadly shook his head at Quatre.

"No! We can't! You can't!" Quatre slammed his fist down on the table before him. "We just can't!"

"We can, and we are. Another outburst like that Senator Winner, and we will kindly ask you to remove yourself from this meeting."

"Don't you worry about that!" He growled. Standing and collecting his jacket, papers, and briefcase, Quatre glared at the men in the room and then turned on his heel to make his way down the aisle of seats towards the exit. At the door he paused. Without turning to face the room, he issued a final warning: "If you mobilize troops and suits you will be sorry. I'll do everything in my power to stop you." With that, he grasped the doorknob and furiously stormed out.

IIIOIII

"I'm glad you're checking in again so promptly Preventer Zero." Une's cold voice filtered through the laptop speakers with grainy white noise rushing behind her words. "What is the status of your current mission?"

"Target Plague has been eliminated." Hiiro and Serena were sitting in the same car they had been picked up in. There were still holes in the hood and the windshield was still shattered, but the radio and equipment seemed intact enough.

"I've come across information which you need to have verified without delay: all life on L2 has been terminated." Hiiro made an attempt to sound callous and apathetic. It made the situation somehow seem less horrific to pretend it wasn't a big deal to begin with, that it didn't matter to him personally. Truth be told it was personal. Any fight, battle, war was personal. And all civilians and innocents who lost their lives, or their loved ones, that was the most personal aspect of the fighting. The loss of L2 was staggering.

"Terminated?" Une's repeat was barely audible. She gave a moment of silence, then cleared her throat. "From bad to worse. I'll have that looked into right away, but Hiiro, you have to put aside your search for the other two Horsemen right now and get into space! I recently received a communicate from Preventer Barton. He and Preventer Chang are locked in a battle for L3 with monsters of the Sailor's caliber. They've been doing their best, but can't hold out for much longer. I sent word to the nearest space port to you that you would be on your way and need transportation as soon as you arrived. They have a shuttle prepped and ready for you and the Sailor."

"Roger that. The next time I contact you will be from a liberated L3." Hiiro ended the satellite link without allowing Une to squeeze another word in. Then he turned to Serena, who had been sitting patiently and quietly beside him.

"Where's the space port?" She asked calmly.

"Close, the other side of the city. We can be there in fifteen minutes if we walk fast enough."

"Okay, let's jog it. If they're up against a monster from the Negaverse, I doubt it will let them live once its bored with them. How long is the trip to space?"

"Usually close to eight hours. We're going in a military shuttle, it will be closer to four hours for us." Serena rolled her eyes.

"Figures. So not fair that the military gets places faster than the rest of the world." Hiiro had to smirk.

"Come on, let's go." They took off racing against not each other but their internal clocks. Both felt the desire for speed and their bodies pumped molten blood through their veins in the rush.

Soon the streets of the city became wider and less congested. The buildings were fewer and far between, and a large fenced field came into sight at the end of town. As they heaved and came to a halt at the base entrance, both smiled haggardly at each other. Hiiro quirked his eyebrow up and deadpanned as he looked at her and said: "You're fast."

She gave a short laugh, throwing her head back in idle disbelief. "Sure. You're pretty fast yourself, Preventer Zero." The use of the nickname caught Hiiro off guard and he felt strange that she had used it. He didn't mind the name. But she was someone he, for once, wished wouldn't think of him as just another soldier. And the nickname was the embodiment for his very soldier-oriented self. Still, just about any name she called him sounded sweet coming from her laughing, upturned pink lips.

"Hiiro?" Serena said, this time more seriously. He shook the last thoughts from his head and reached into his pocket to pull out his Preventers badge. Flashing it at the man in the guard-post of the space port gate, he walked straight on ahead and forced Serena to walk quickly behind him to catch up.

"That one, over there." He pointed to a readied shuttle on the runway. They jogged over and found themselves quickly loaded and strapped in, made ready for space travel. Hiiro was amazed at Serena's limited knowledge of space and space-related travel though she claimed to be Lunarian. Then again, she had also holed herself up into an orphanage for the last few millennia, so he had to take that into consideration. She had been impressed that he was going to be piloting the shuttle; and even more impressed that space travel was preformed with such ease considering the technology.

"Its just so different from what you hear on television, being here and seeing it." She claimed. Hiiro said nothing, making sure to grunt every so often. Recently his mind had been flooded with problematic thoughts that had been distracting. Really, annoying more than anything. And he was doing his very best to clear his mind once more.

Serena sat still as she could as the shuttle took off and ascended into the atmosphere. She had tried to convince herself that this was safe, but no amount of convincing would help. Unless it involved Sailor teleporting, space travel was not ready for humans in her opinion. Still, when Hiiro put the shuttle on autopilot and unsnapped from his seatbelt to float around in the empty passenger cabin behind her, Serena looked longingly at him. To afraid to un-strap, she sat and pondered the strange boy she had met and was coming to know so well. He had warned her about space debris and the ride maybe being a bit bumpy, then gotten up smirking and without looking back shut the cockpit door, leaving her in a slightly scared mental state all alone.

Hiiro was by far one of the most layered people she had ever met. He hid himself behind his job, behind his lifestyle, behind his past. His entire existence depended upon his persona in the military career. She saw that he realized this. She saw that he was uncomfortable with this. And yet he very obviously did not know how to go about changing. Yet here he was, still fighting, though he wanted to change, still putting it off to once again take care of the greater good. Still fighting. Did anyone, she wondered, ever thank him? Being a soldier on the front lines of a battle for the Earth was a tireless, thankless job, she knew. Did anyone ever take care of him? Let him rest? Did anyone ever just let him be himself?

Hiiro sat in the middle of the passenger section of the plane with his laptop, writing an up-to-date report on their status. Concentrating on work seemed to be his only option left. They had at least two more hours before they reached the colony, and he was planning on refreshing his memory of the colony blueprints as well. The cockpit door slid open and his eyes slid up from his glowing screen to see the only other person on the shuttle.

Serena's silver hair shone brightly in the yellow light above and behind her. Her Sailor outfit, pristine and unwrinkled from the last battle, lit up the room brightly. The colors in the outfit themselves seemed to bring happiness and cheer into the cabin. Hiiro felt his eyes freeze on her large, expressive blue eyes which were trained directly on him.

"Hey Hiiro." She smiled gently as she bounded off the floor lightly and enjoyed the lower-gravity sensation she had gained in space. She landed next to him in the center aisle and settled in the seat right next to him.

"I see you un-strapped." He smirked at her, folding his laptop screen down. Her smile was blinding.

"I did." She nodded.

"You're not afraid?" His voice remained even.

"I was. I'm working on it. Long as there's no turbulence I'll be okay."

"But if there's turbulence you won't be?" She smacked him lightly on his shoulder.

"Brat."  
"Never been called that before." Hiiro turned his face away from her—he didn't want her to see the smile she had just placed across his face.

"Why, Hiiro Yui, is that a smile?" She smiled. He was so relaxed right now—nothing like the uptight guy he could be in serious situations. It seemed as though their return to space was making him a much more content person.

"Hnn." He grunted, hoping she would be annoyed and get bored with him, or leave and leave him to blush on his own. She did not.

"I believe you are smiling!" She proclaimed. He felt his cheeks grow redder. Hiiro imagined Serena's face was lit up with delirious glee as she made him twitch and squirm in an awkward awareness of her warm frame laughing at him in good fun.

"Hnn." He grunted again. This time before she could respond, their shuttle hit a piece of debris and the metallic walls reverberated around them. Serena heard the dull metal clang with the debris and felt the vibrations.

"AhahEeep!" She cried out, sounding much like the old teenage version of herself. Jumping into the air in fear and alarm, Serena stood up and gripped the shuttle seat in front of her for dear life. Hiiro, who had instinctually turned to look for Serena when the shuttle collided with the fragments simply watched her panic attack in quiet and collected amusement. Still, he could see what amused him terrified her. Her fingers dug into the chair, knuckles white and muscles tensed.

"Serena, sit down." He commanded her gently. She shot him a cold look of disdain, and finally Hiiro had had it. He broke out in a short chuckle of laughter and stood up from his seat. Serena, in mild shock from both the small impact and hearing Hiiro, made no move. Hiiro gently placed his hands over her gloved ones and coaxed her to sit in the seat beside him once again. He felt her shaking, and placed his arm around her shoulders comfortingly.

"Wow." She whispered. "When you said bumpy ride, you weren't kidding."

"None of it's dangerous. Part of Duo's day job is to come up here and blast these pieces into small enough pieces so they won't hurt anyone and then collect them for recycling. He and Hilde have a good business." He tried to speak as though he was not fazed by the collision, or by the smell of the vanilla perfume that wafted from her hair.

"Hmm. Well thank goodness for Duo." She smiled, looking up directly at Hiiro. "And thank goodness for you too." He looked at her questioningly, and she continued. "You're an amazing shot. That arrow almost nailed me. You saved my life twice now."

"It's my job." Serena paused, then started again.

"You know, you and I, we're very similar. We both fight thankless wars to save others from knowing the hells of war. We sacrificed everything in order to continue to fight for what we think is right. And we sacrifice ourselves and our lives to being soldiers, we even go as far as to define ourselves through the battles we've fough. Those battles, they help us tell other people about ourselves and what we are." She was still looking him directly in the eyes as she spoke, watching his own orbs shift and blink with trepidation and acknowledgment.

"I fight because it's my purpose, just like saving people is yours." He finally whispered. Serena let a tear flow freely down her cheek.

"When do you ever just get to be yourself then?" She asked, tearing her gaze from him and staring at the seat back in front of her. Hiiro slowly brought his hand up and used it to turn her face back towards his.

"Right now, when I have nothing else I can do. I've written my report. I'm traveling to a fight, which I may not make it out of alive. I am in the middle of space. I've done all I can do until I reach my destination, and all that's left right now is for me to relax and think. This is the time when I can be myself." His velvety, dark voice lulled her into a deep state of relaxation. Hiiro slowly slid his calloused, warm hand from Serena's cheek to the back of her neck. Softly running his fingertips through her slinky silver strands at the base of her neck, he made her melt closer into him. Ignoring the armrest, which separated both shuttle occupants closer to their hips, Hiiro pressed Serena's forehead to his and ever so gently rubbed his nose against hers.

Serena could feel his hot breath against her lips, and her own labored breathing came in quick, short bursts. Licking her rosy lips and closing her eyes, she stopped short. This was his moment? This…

"Serena." He breathed. He too licked his lips. "I'm going to kiss you now."

Quickly, before she could respond, Hiiro covered her soft, full mouth with a firm but dazzlingly careful kiss. He teased and toyed with Serena until she openly submitted to his onslaught. Warm, tingling lips crashing together in mutual attraction.

IIIOIII

Wow! This was an interesting chapter to write. My reviewers, who I love dearly, you are awesome! Serenity Wayne, Lilaclight, Maq, Patricia16, chibi-chibi-tenshi, Tenshi-Chikyuu, Wicked Tenshi, THANK YOU! LilacLight, I don't know about the bullet being found, but yes her hair is definitely silver all the time now, it was only blonde in her memory. And thanks Maq—I have been reading a lot of poetry lately, which is probably where the elements came from! But I've also been horrible with spelling, oh well! I don't proofread or grammar read ever really, I'm lucky things go as smoothly as they do lol! This chapter is for you guys, since you've been waiting forever, an eternity (HAHAHA) to see the romance!


	21. Shaken to the Core

Chapter Twenty-Two: Shaken to the Core

*Both pulled apart slowly… Serena with an impish blush across her rouged cheeks; and Hiiro a cautious and intensely focused gaze trained on her reaction. Her lips remained parted as she breathed in at a quicker pace and met his gaze straight on.

"I don't know if you should have done that." She finally said quietly. In her thoughts she flew over the many millennia she had spent with her first soul mate. They had fallen in love even after reincarnation as new people. Theirs was a love that had been timeless. They had once had a bright future…did any of that still matter? For decades now fate had led her to believe she was destined to be alone. Otherwise why would Darien have been taken from her at all? Or her friends for that matter?

"I was once told to act upon my emotions. Since then I have fought two wars in which I have survived based on that advice. I'm not concerned about whether I should have done it or not." His voice gave rise to stirring emotions Serena had not felt in many decades. Her heart melted into his words, it beat with the same tempo as Hiiro's mellow and dark voice. Still her heart also cried out in pain as it beat, unwilling to change the rhythm it had been used to for so long. It ached for someone she had once been with long ago, and yet passionately cried out to this new stranger who had appeared in her life.

"It's been a long time since anyone kissed me like that." She gave him a sad smile. "I feel like I could melt, or break apart into millions of pieces." She shook her head.

Hiiro knew the smile she gave him all too well. It only took one glance for him to understand her inner dilemma. He too had been in a similar circumstance and recently lost someone very dear to his heart. Not that he would ever admit to the true depth at which his soul had been moved by the Vice Foreign Minister… Still, he had never been so fervently drawn, like a moth to a flame, to a woman before. The level at which he felt his fascination with the Sailor was past anything he could describe… there was no fighting his instinct when it came to actions regarding her.

"Relax. This will be the only chance you get to rest and be yourself for a while." Hiiro broke their awkward silence with amiable and quiet words. "Once we get there who knows what we'll find. Barton and Chang could probably use us sooner than later, and at full strength."

"I hope they're doing okay. Nega-monsters are particularly nasty by themselves, but with Chaos in control they are twice as bad because she loves the ruckus and fear they bring people. She makes them worse by building strength from the fear attacks cause." Serena shuddered and settled back into her seat. "I think I'll take a nap."

"Close your eyes." The command was soft and suggestive. Yawning, Serena pulled her legs up onto the seat and leaned on the armrest between them uncomfortably, resting her head awkwardly on the shuttle's leather seat. Hiiro swiftly stood and made his way to the front of the passenger cabin where he knocked on the door to the cockpit and was allowed entrance. Just as Serena nodded to the point of unconsciousness she felt his warm body take its place next to her once again. Her head slipped down to his shoulder, and his own head rested softly upon hers. He no longer moved, and she fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

IIIOIII

Quickly as his light feet would carry is tall frame Trowa dodged behind a series of newspaper stands and halted behind a mailbox on the street. He signaled to Wufei who was across the street using parked cars as shields from the advancing sirens. "We have to think of a way to stop their advance." He muttered to himself.

Since his arrival on the colony his entire core belief in life had been shaken and here he was, still falling back to his basic military training to get him out of a tight spot. His nimble fingers twitched as they instinctively pulled the ring from the top of a grenade and chucked it into the middle of the colony street. Wufei ducked automatically, but Trowa was appalled to see the advancing monsters did not blink or turn away to run for cover from the mini time bomb. They kept floating forward, even when the grenade threw forth a great explosion that rocked the street and tore up the concrete for an entire city block.

Trowa had never believed in monsters. Never believed that magic existed or creatures other than the usual would have any place in his world. Yet now here he was faced with something he had never through even real—as a real threat. There had to be some way they could stop these Keres!

"Trowa, guns and grenades are not going to stop them! If they keep going they'll hit the heart of the colony—the event center! Everyone on this half of the colony evacuated there, there'll be no stopping the slaughter!" Wufei yelled across the street. Trowa sat back and pounded the back of his head against the blue metallic box behind him.

"What we need then, is at least a distraction until we can stop them." He yelled back. The Keres, forever slowly advancing, had stopped momentarily over the body of a dead dog. Sniffing it, prodding it, they finally picked its midsection open and tasted the innards with frantic motions. And as quickly as they had bent to enjoy their feast, they pulled back and suddenly roared in disgust. Turning around they began to move once more down the street. Wufei and Trowa both looked at each other and nodded, not needing words to understand the other's thought process. Both taking off in different directions, they moved in a race against time.

Spotting a dead cat behind a dumpster, Trowa wished he had a box, or a pair of gloves… but without he would just have to make due. Taking the dead feline by its tail, he raced back to the street.

"What'd you find?" Wufei called running down an ally across from him.

"Cat." The former Heavy Arms pilot replied. "You?"

"Squirrel." Trowa blinked, and Wufei growled. "How many kinds of dead animals were you expecting to find in the middle of a city on a colony?" His defense, Trowa had to admit, made sense.

"A squirrel?" He just couldn't let Wufei, as proud a person as he was, get away with it.

"You're not helping our cause." Wufei gritted his teeth and glared. "Let's put these to good use."

"Put them in different places along the street, they'll have to stop to check each one out, it doesn't look like their eye sight is all that great."

"You put them out, I'm going to see if I can find any others." Wufei thrust his furry squirrel's tail at Trowa and before the taller boy could react had taken off down the street. Without delay Trowa moved to follow through with the idea and picked out a few places to hide the two animal bodies.

As the Keres monsters stopped at the cat, the second of the two animals they had found, Trowa began to search the horizon for Wufei. If the Chinese man didn't hurry with his task the Keres would be that much closer to the evacuees in the event center not two full blocks from his position. Interesting how he had been drafted to come to the colonies and aid in stopping rioting humans, not vicious creatures.

"I found another dog!" Wufei finally made his grand entrance, dog in tow. The two boys heaved the dog onto a nearby abandoned hotdog stand and gave it a push down the street. As it wheeled past the Keres it picked up speed—lucky for the two boys that the colony had built in small variances to the road to make it more like living on Earth… the road being slightly uneven and downhill was a huge help. The Keres shrieked and chortled as the cart flew past them. Turning directions, they headed for the rolling dead dogs.

The two former pilots stared in disgust as the monsters finally caught the cart and began to ravage the dog's remains. Finally, the preening hags turned back around and once again began to move in a forward direction. This time, however, instead of floating slowly as they had, they separated and flapped their wings in anticipation.

"Enough distractions! You two humans are a nuisance! Your blood calls to us! We will feast on your flesh now!" The tallest of the black-robed beaked fiends screeched, her voice grating on human ears like nails on a chalkboard. "Moros, Nemesis, take Tall Legs, Apate take Dark Hair!" The four Keres paired off and advanced to attack the pilots. Trowa and Wufei both opened fire and a shower on lead bullets rained down on the streets of L5. Seeing their guns do no harm unnerved the pilots to their cores. What enemy was it that could take a bullet and keep moving?

"This must be what it was like for OZ to fight against the Gundams." Wufei cringed as the leader of the Keres inched closer and closer.

"We've always been the underdog though, we always manage." Trowa felt his back flatten up against a car parked on the street. There was no where else to go, his weapons did no good… but he would not be a coward and run from facing his opponent.

"Sisters! These humans will be appetizers to the feast we are about to have!" Thanatos, the apparent leader, baited as she preened her golden feathered wings. As she twitched to go in the for the kill and slit Wufei from abdomen to neck, a solid disc of white and yellow flew between them and she drew back in pain and horror, her screams echoing in the empty allies of the city.

"Thanatos, what has hurt you?" Quickly the birds flocked around their ring leader, examining her for injury.

"There will be no more picking on innocent humans for you song birds, your number has ended!" Wufei and Trowa both looked up to see where the melodic voice had been carried from. Atop a car across the street stood none other than a simple girl, silver hair in a ridiculous hairstyle and skirt far too short to be fashion-acceptable.

"Woman, what are you doing?" Wufei yelled in anger. He raced from his frozen spot to the car frantically. Trowa followed in suit. "Get down from there, this is no time to play superhero!"

"You'll get hurt, or killed, get out of here." Trowa's words were quiet, but very heavy with authority.

"I'm not going anywhere gentlemen." Serena paused. "I'm sure you have a friend around here who's worried about you, why don't you try checking on the people at the event center? I've got this under control." She never took her gaze from the Keres, who were regrouping and hissing for revenge.

"You're insane! Get the hell out of here girl!"

"Girl! You're blood calls to us! We will devour your heart while it is still beating! Moros, attack!" Thanatos, the leader, commanded. One of the beaked-women flicked her talons in the fake sunlight of the colony and without warning flew straight for the Sailor. As she flew Sailor Moon gracefully jumped down from the top of the car and landed in the street next to the two pilots. In mid air the Moros changed direction and still shot straight for the silver haired woman. Sailor Moon, being prepared, grabbed her tiara once more. Whispering the words she knew all too well, the gold and ruby headpiece began to spin and glow. As Moros neared, Serena drew back and chucked the tiara as hard as she could. Straight through the stomach of the winged monstrosity flew the energy disk, spilling not only the monster's insides, but also the contents of her stomach all over the ground and splashing onto the three humans.

"What the hell!" Wufei jeered as he turned his nose up at the blood and entrails with disgust.

"She's not human either." Trowa grimaced. Another monster? But this one was too pretty to be evil…

"Barton, Chang, really. Get out of here. Go see your friend Preventer 01, he's waiting for you at the event center. I don't need any more casualties today. Please?"

"Yui is on Earth, who the hell are you?" Trowa simply held his arm out, barring Wufei from any more lashing out at the skimpily clad Sailor woman.

"Wufei, she just killed what we've spent nearly ten hours fighting. I'm not going to argue. Hiiro's waiting for us."

"You're just going to let a woman take over? She has no credentials, no proof of what she says! You can't just leave the battle and let someone else do your fighting Barton!" Trowa half agreed. As he faltered, yet another black-robed and gold-winged villain came flying towards them. This time the Sailor jumped in mid-air to meet the diving bird. Kicking it hard, she fell less than gracefully onto the concrete below her. Still, the Keres went flying backwards and into the mailbox Trowa had hidden behind earlier.

"If you're not leaving then at least hide." Serena yelled in dismay to the two pilots, who stood with their jaws dragging on the street.

"What are you girlie? You look human, but your smell… you don't smell human!" Thanatos looked down her beak at the Sailor Scout and bared her fangs, which were riddled with rotten flesh and dripping with saliva.

"I am the champion of justice, Sailor Moon. And you are nothing more than vile creature of evil that Chaos has released into the world. Well I won't let you hurt one more innocent soul… it's over for you four old birds!" Serena meant business. Willing her scepter to appear, she flipped it around gathering energy as she went.

"Sailor Moon!" Thanatos heaved. "We will eat you, pick your bones clean little Sailor!"

"Moon scepter elimination!" She cried out. The Keres that had attacked her moments ago and been thrown into the mailboxes become finite dust that settled to the street heavily. "Bring it on." The growl coming from her sweet, upturned mouth surprised Wufei and Trowa.

The last two Keres attacked together, in a swirl of metallic gold and dark cloth they flew in circles around the lone Scout. Opening their mouths, they began to shriek at her. Slowly they each picked moments to take a peck or scratch at the prey they had ensnared.

"Ah! Ouch!" Serena inside the fury was feeling the pressure of the attack. Small and large gashes opened all over her body as she fought to regain control of the situation. Knowing she had to break the cycle, Sailor Moon summoned her inner strength and gathered everything she had into her scepter. "Moon scepter elimination!" She cried out once more.

The power blasted the circling birds out of their spiral and away from her long enough for the pilots to see her struggle to keep her knees strong enough to support her wavering body weight. And as quickly as she had repelled the birds, the leader of the Keres collected herself enough to fly in and pick the Sailor up by her ankle. Dragging her into the air and hanging her upside down, she shook her with all her strength. Sailor Moon, disoriented and upside down, was helpless in her state. Thanatos, enjoying playing with her food, tossed the Sailor into the air and as she began to give way to gravity and come back down she grabbed the Sailor's back with her talon covered feet and dug in, eliciting a scream of pain.

"I love the smell of fresh blood! Here Apate, finish her!" With that, Thanatos dropped hold of the girl's body and it fell to the concrete and landed hard. Trowa and Wufei both winced seeing the woman's fragile form impact like that of a rag doll. There was no way she hadn't broken a bone or two from that three story fall. As the last Keres on the ground made her move toward the Sailor's prone form, the silver-haired woman stirred. Barely able to pick herself up, Serena saw Apate heading for her out of the corner of her eye. Summoning her heart-shaped wand, the Sailor turned to face her attacker.

"I'm not done yet: rainbow moon heartache!" Her pink energy wrapped around the Keres and squeezed it into dust.

"You bitch! You've killed my sisters!" Thanatos wailed. "Oh, my blood-craving sisters! I will avenge you!" She swore aloud. "Die Sailor Moon!" Serena simply glared. Once again focusing on the attacker coming her way, she collected her chain of pink energy hearts and sent them full force to meet the last Keres in battle. Her hearts faded away as the dust filtered to the ground harmlessly.

A little shaky and very sore, Serena turned to the boys she knew were Hiiro's comrades. Making her way towards them, she did her best to put a warm smile on her pained face. "Nice to meet you both, Trowa and Wufei, right?" Neither said anything to her for a long moment.

Finally, Trowa broke their silent meeting: "hello." Wufei barely acknowledged her with a nod. A honking horn brought them all back to reality as a Preventer vehicle pulled up onto the scene. Six Preventers jumped out of the back and began to sweep down the street, checking to make sure they were clear of the threat. A seventh jumped out and made his way towards the three heroes of the day.

"It is Hiiro." Trowa muttered. Wufei simply snorted.

"Yui. You sent a woman to help us?"

"Not just any woman." Hiiro clipped. Serena moved to stand next to him, and he grabbed her arm and spun her around, surveying her back.

"You look like you went through a meat grinder." He told her.

"Thank you Hiiro. Because every girl wants to be told she looks like she went through a meat grinder." She lightly smacked Hiiro's chest, but he didn't so much as blink to recognize her movement.

"Let's get back to the event center." His hand still tightly clasped around Serena's arm, he gently led her in the direction of the Preventer jeep. Trowa and Wufei followed, more questions brewing every moment. When all of the other six Preventers had made sure the colony was cleared of threats, they quickly returned to the jeep and all of them took off racing towards their base on the colony. Serena and Hiiro silently sat with many pairs of eyes either fixed, or shifting constantly over them. All in the jeep wondered what had just happened… most especially the two pilots who had been witness to the magic show.

As the jeep pulled up to the tents set up outside the large indoor arena, Hiiro pulled their small faction away and into their own tent. The white-washed cloth walls would not insulate sound as he might usually prefer, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Serena entered the tent and immediately sat on one of the two cots set up against the back wall of the tent. Hiiro grabbed a chair from behind a makeshift table, and Wufei and Trowa collapsed onto a bench against the right side of the tent. For a moment the four of them were silent.

"What the hell was that?" Wufei finally spat out. "I mean, what were they, who are you?" His dark Asian eyes narrowed at the silver haired girl before him. She shrugged and looked at Hiiro, not sure how to begin to answer his question.

"I feel like everything I once believed about monsters and ghosts has gone out the window. They were real monsters—like the one you claimed Duo had an encounter with, right?" The tall, green-eyed man watched Serena with a particularly warm glow in his eyes.

"They were very real, I assure you." Serena hissed in pain, her new injuries causing more than minor discomfort.

"This is Sailor Moon." Hiiro began. He had a feeling the other two were going to think he was crazy when he explained this. "She's here because Relena's death was no accident. Relena was killed by an entity Sailor Moon calls Chaos. Chaos is here to destroy our sense of peace and security."

"Are you telling me that Relena was killed by some monster?" Wufei scoffed.

"Whether Chaos did it herself or just implanted some idiot with the notion, she is responsible for the Vice Foreign Minister's death. I'm just here to make sure she doesn't get very far with the destruction of the rest of the world."

"Was that real magic?" Trowa's voice was so soft he could barely be heard.

"Not you too Trowa!" Wufei groaned.

"Real." Hiiro confirmed. "It's all real. Chaos sent those things here, it also sent four horsemen of the apocalypse to set fear into the Earth and colonies…we have two more horsemen to battle."

"Horsemen? Really?" Trowa's eyebrows went up with interest.

"But Hiiro, something about this bothers me…" Serena trailed off. "If Chaos sent the Four Horsemen, why then did she also send the Keres? Its not her style to send two groups when she thinks the first will do just fine. So why the Keres?"

"Why else does an enemy send troops anywhere away from their main army? She's gearing up for a larger attack." Wufei interjected. Serena quickly bolted to her feet.

"She's distracting us!" Her pink lips pouted and azure eyes exuded worry.

"But from what?" Hiiro wondered if, not for the first time, he was in way over his head….*

IIIOIII

Hahaha I know I suck at updating, but I'm still here, struggling to get this done! -Vixen


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